Phoenix Rising
by Zero The Grimm
Summary: Yang lost more than just an arm at Beacon. She lost her partner, her team and even her career. But more than that, she lost her dreams and the will to keep on fighting. But when old enemies reveal themselves, and a plot spanning Kingdoms starts to unravel, Yang will soon have to decide just how far she is willing to go to protect those she loves.
1. Chapter 1

**Well it must be a sign of the apocalypse if I finally have what I believe to be a decent story out. Ok, so let's see.**

 **First off, a great many thanks to Coeur Al'Aran who has become my sort of tutor dash beta reader. Without his assistance this would not have been possible. If you have not read his stories I suggest you do so now...well, I mean read this first then go to him. He writes one of if not the best RWBY fics on this site/planet.**

 **Now then, this will be my first official (That I am actually happy with) story posted. A good deal of the script for this is already planned out so please know that it will not be one of those rushed fan fics you see just about everywhere. Eh, no offense to any writers. Just mean that this will be a well planned story as supposed to some one-shots which can be very pleasant to read.**

 **My idea is to post one chapter a month with the updates becoming maybe a bit more frequent as I get better. I may even work on a second story at the same time as this one.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

The world was on fire.

It was either the world or her. Beacon was burning, abandoned and lost - but so was she. Pain lancing up her right side, Yang grit her teeth and opened her eyes.

"Where… is Blake?" She rose to her feet. Blake was hurt, stabbed by some red-headed bastard wearing a mask. Like the ones from the White Fang. Probably was one from the White Fang, who else could he have been?

Gritting her teeth she moved to place one hand up against the wall. Okay, back track. She remembered Blake being hurt, so she'd charged at the man and-

The blonde stumbled against the cool metal, cutting off her train of thought. She groaned, feeling more pain then she should have, before pulling her face from the steel as she finally recognised her surroundings. A Bullhead, yet to take off since the back door was still open.

What was going on? Were they leaving already? Where was Ruby? Where was Blake? Was that why they hadn't taken off? They were waiting for the others? Where… Yang glanced to her right, lilac eyes wide. Several emotions went through her mind. Horror. Anguish. Anger and confusion.

Where was her arm!?

Yang took several steps back, eyes wide as she frantically looked around. H-her arm. W-where was it? Why was it...that man! He did this! She stumbled before someone helped steady her. "W-where…" It was suddenly a lot harder to breathe. To even stand or be conscious. She felt like she was going to throw up at any moment.

"Easy." Sun Wukong guided her onto a seat against the wall. She hadn't even seen him. "You need to stay calm. Blake...Blake left-" Sun had to push her back into her seat when she tried to get up after hearing him. "Y-Yang! You're in no condition to go out there. Or even stand for that matter…"

"Let me GO!" Lilac eyes turned red as her body started to produce heat. Her hair flared up from the force of her semblance, forcing Sun to jump back.

Immediately, Yang winced and clutched her arm in pain. She felt it burning. She could feel the...the stub of her arm… it felt like it was on fire. It had never happened before. She screamed, unable to suppress the sounds of her agony

She collapsed onto her hands- onto her _hand_. Yang grit her teeth to the point they felt like they might shatter. Her forehead touched the ground, hand clutching her stump as if that would somehow relieve the pain. It only seemed to make it worse.

Why did it hurt? Her entire body started to swell up in pain and heat. She was sweating as fast as her semblance was evaporating it, the bulkhead under her body starting to warp from the heat. She couldn't be sure, but even her clothes seemed to slowly turn into ashes.

"It hurts. It hurts so much. Why... why does it hurt?" Her entire body stiffened, curling into herself in a futile attempt to stop the pain. She forced her head to look up from the floor to see Sun's distraught face. He took a step toward her only to wince in pain and step back. Her semblance, it had never been like this before.

Yang fought through the agony. Perhaps in some odd way the pain she was feeling added to her power. She didn't bother thinking about it. She stepped forward making Sun take a step back in fear. Her body slowly raised itself up from the ground despite it all.

She had to find Blake. She _would_ find Blake. She _will_ find Blake. She-

The only warning Yang got was Sun's eyes looking at something behind her before wincing.

The last thing she heard was a thud as something hit her on the back of the neck and the sound of her body coming into contact with the cold floor.

 _B-Blake..._

* * *

Yang's eyes slowly fluttered open with a groan. She looked at her surroundings, not noticing much, other than that she was in some building. Everything was dark.

"Easy." Something as bright as the full moon came into her view. She had to shield her eyes, looking to the side for a moment before she saw Weiss smiling down on her. "You're going to be okay, but you need to rest."

"B-blake...where... Ruby…" Yang sat up from her bed, only to be guided back down by Weiss' hands on her shoulders. She felt too weak to fight back.

"I said you need to rest." Weiss moved the covers over Yang's body before frowning at the look she gave her. "Ruby… Ruby is going to be fine. Your uncle brought her in and she's stabilized." Yang's body relaxed immediately at the news. Sore muscles unclenching. She still looked to her teammate for more answers. Weiss grimaced, "Blake...Blake is fine too."

Yang felt much better. What Sun said...it must have been a dream - a nightmare.

"What's wrong with Ruby?" Weiss had said stabilized, what had she stabilized from? Yang tried to get up again only for her team mate to push her back down.

"I...I don't know." Weiss admitted. "I think she just exerted herself too much but she's _fine_ now." Weiss made it a point to remind Yang of that. That her little sister was okay. "That dolt is too stubborn…to..." It was like she was trying to comfort herself as much as she was her teammate. Yang moved her arm to rest over Weiss'. She seemed to appreciate the small action if the smile on her face meant anything. "Just get some rest."

"..." Yang finally noted the state of her right arm when she turned her head to the side. She had wanted to grab Weiss' hand with her right but couldn't. She stared for a few more moments before turning back toward Weiss' direction.

The school, it had been destroyed. Run over by Grimm. Penny and all the other students and civilians who had gotten caught up in the fight. They were all...

"Hey…" Weiss clasped her hands over Yang's before giving a tight squeeze. "I'm right here, you know? I'm not going to leave you."

Yang clutched Weiss's hands back. Squeezing a bit too hard by the wince Weiss gave, but she didn't tell her to stop. "Promise?" Yang was pleading. She knew. She couldn't bring herself to be ashamed of that fact.

Weiss looked her right in the eyes, squeezing her hand as tight as she could before nodding. Her grip was almost enough to make Yang cringe. A testament to how tired and weak she really was. "I promise." Weiss said. "A Schnee never goes back on their word. So get some rest, okay? I'll be here when you wake up and who knows, Ruby might even be up as well." Yang nodded weakly. Whatever was going on, they would face it together.

Yang paused for a moment before nodding. She faced the ceiling of the building they were in before her eyes slowly drifted shut, her hand still squeezing Weiss'. They'd get through this together.

As a team.

* * *

It was the smell that woke her up the next time. Stink might have been a better word to describe it, however, since it made her teeth curl up and shake. Her face scrunched in disgust before her eyes finally locked onto the source. Her uncle.

Wait…

Her uncle!

"Uncle Qrow!" She immediately regretted sitting up. Her entire body screamed out in pain at the action. One part in particular more than the others.

"Easy there Firecracker." Her uncle eased her back down, much like Weiss had done not too long ago. At least, she didn't think it had been long ago. How long had she been asleep? Given the state of her body, not long enough.

"How lo…" She took a moment to breathe in, only to cough at the smell of his breath. "Been drinking a bit more than usual?" she asked instead, trying to fake some humour.

"Not nearly as much as I would like." He took another swig of his flask before releasing a deep breath… much to her nose's horror. "How you doing?"

"I'm...I'll be ok." She had Weiss with her and Ruby was fine. Blake was somewhere around here. She had to keep repeating that to herself. "How long was I out?"

"A while." Ever the helpful old man.

"Well, where's Weiss and Blake? What about Ruby? Can I see her?" She knew Weiss wouldn't lie to her about Ruby but she still wanted to see her little sister with her own eyes. She also wanted to see how Blake was doing… She had been wounded, hadn't she?

Her uncle didn't seem pleased at the question. "It's probably better if you don't get up." he said. "Ruby's still asleep and it's not really safe for either of you to be moving."

Yang didn't like the idea of not seeing her baby sister. Not knowing the exact condition she was in. They said she was stable and fine but what if she wasn't really in one piece? What if she had some scar? What if she was paralyzed? Just thinking about it made her heart beat rapidly against her chest. Her breathing starting to pick up.

"Hey." Her face was guided toward her uncle. "Ruby's fine. The little squirt will be just like she was the last time you saw her."

After a moment to think about it, she gave a nod and a heavy sigh. That helped. If anything happened to Ruby then… She shook her head. No. That didn't matter. What mattered was that Ruby was alive. She was in one piece. "So where's Weiss and Blake?" She wouldn't mind talking to some familiar faces that didn't stink of booze.

Again by her uncle's expression he didn't seem to like that question. "Weiss is out tending to some of the other injured." Qrow explained. "Not everyone was lucky enough to get their own room."

When Yang finally had time to take in her surroundings she saw it was indeed a single, small room. Wooden floors and walls. Comfy bed. A hotel maybe? Some sort of inn? Was there even a difference between the two? Heh. If Weiss or Blake were there, they could probably have told her. Give some boring explanation and possible origin of the two words. They were a lot alike in that regard. Being nerds.

"Thanks…" She knew it wasn't by luck that she got her own room. Her uncle must have pulled some strings or something.

"No problem, Firecracker." Yang groaned waving her arm around when he squashed his hand into her scalp. The hair! Watch the hair!

"Nhhh...what about Blake?" She hadn't seen her yet.

"...I don't know. Lot of people are everywhere and I can't keep track of them all."

Yang let out a frustrated groan, wincing at her sore body's reaction. Her whole body felt like crap and it really sucked.

"You alright there, Firecracker?"

Yang groan, which led to more pain and her face scrunching up. Alright? He had already asked her that and she felt a compulsion to give a different answer this time.

"I'll manage…" She had to think positive, if only because the negative was so overwhelming.

Blake was safe and well somewhere. She would see her as soon as possible if she would ever be allowed to. If she could even stand properly herself. She'd prefer to see both Blake and Weiss at the same time if only to talk. About what? She didn't really care so long as they talked. She'd also see her sister. With her own eyes. See that she was really whole and undamaged. Even if she was asleep. It would make her feel better just to see her. To hold her hand and give what comfort she could to the unconscious girl.

* * *

"Now tell me if it hurts."

"It hurts. It hurts!"

Yang thought herself to be a tough girl. From all the training she did as a child to the small occasional battles she had with other people in Patch for picking on her sister. Sure they had taken most, if not all the damage in those fights, barely being able to crawl back home, but she digressed. She thought herself to be tougher and stronger than the average huntress in training.

So she couldn't help but feel emasculated by how the doctor was handling her. She wanted to blame it on her wounds and how exhausted she was, but another part of her, the part that was screaming out in pain, wanted to blame the not so gentle handling of this god damn woman!

After a few more moments of the woman's hand touching her aching body, she pulled back with what Yang swore was a slight entertained look. "Yes, she seems to be quite sore."

She could have told her that!

"So can you do anything for her, doc?" Now, her uncle was usually pretty laid back. Drank a lot for one reason or the other. She didn't pry. She liked drinking herself but she couldn't help but want to smack that small smirk on his face till it was indented. Maybe he thought her struggling was a sign of how well she was. Maybe it was. That still didn't change the fact that she wanted to pummel him.

"Hm? Oh yes." The doctor looked like she was interrupted from a pleasant thought. "We can fix up those sore muscles no problem. It will take some time to heal. Possibly up to a few weeks, but nothing too serious."

It certainly felt serious from her examination. Now that she wasn't in anymore pain, Yang had a moment to take in the doctor's appearance. She was a faunus if those brown ears and long tail had anything to say about it. Both animal appendages were brown save for the tip of her tail which was black.

"Thanks Tsune. I appreciate it." By the way Qrow talked to the doctor and how she nodded back, it seemed like they knew each other. Friends maybe? Former lovers? Yang shook her head. Ugh, gross. She was bad enough as it was.

"Alright then." Yang's face paled when the doc held out a needle about as thick as her arm. "Let's begin the first dose of treatments."

First dose? Treatments? As in, there would be more than one?

* * *

She officially hated doctors.

Doctors were supposed to make you feel better by the time they were done. This one did not. She felt even worse and was really unable to get out of bed now. In the day or so she had been in town, at least she assumed it was a day since she kept sleeping and waking up, she hadn't seen Blake or Ruby. She also hadn't seen Weiss besides that one time when she first woke up. It was nice to see her uncle but she wanted to get out of this bed and maybe see someone who didn't stink of booze and aftershave.

The smell tended to get old after a while.

She didn't even know how the outside looked like. If it was dark or bright. She hadn't left this room since she was brought into it and that, among other things, frustrated her to no end.

Yang glanced around the darkly lit room for a moment before slowly, and rather painfully might she add, sitting up on the bed. After that she dragged her partially numb body to the edge and for the first time today, pressed her feet on the wooden floor. Her hand gripped the side of the wooden desk beside her, slowly placing pressure on her feet.

And just like that she fell flat on her face.

Fuck.

Yang tried to stand, and when that wouldn't work she tried pushing herself up. Again, she met with failure. Normally, one hand would have been more than enough. She must have slept longer than she'd thought. That, or the doctor really messed up.

She wasn't sure how long she laid there. Maybe half an hour, maybe less. By then her body was starting to ache from laying on the wooden floor and she was pretty sure her face or some part of her body would have a small dent from the tiles.

Her uncle couldn't have gotten a room with a smooth, flat floor? No. It had to be rectangular tiles with small, tiny gaps. She hated those. They were sore on her feet.

She could call for help. Assuming anyone answered, she would be hearing it from her uncle for the rest of her recovery. She had enough pains without having to add a headache to it. When the door opened her head shot up. Part of her hoping it wasn't her uncle and that it was someone that could keep their mouth shut. And it was...Sun?

Eh, she could work with that.

She waved for him. "Lend a hand?" Guh. Not the best, even for her. Didn't even mean that one. After a moment of shock, the blond rushed over to Yang. His hands instinctively went to either of her arms which made her wince and in turn made him cringe back.

It also made her fall flat on her face again.

"Sorry!"

"Just get me on the bed." She'd suddenly lost the urge to explore.

"Sorry." He apologised once again, helping her up onto the edge of the bed. She held her hand out for the faunus to back off signaling she didn't want to lay down. She could at least sit. Probably.

"It's fine…" She groaned, rubbing her sore face before shaking it off. Even that hurt. "So, what's up? How long have we been here?" She'd been lucky to get a nice room to herself but not one freaking clock? Seriously?

"It's been three days since the attack." Sun explained. "You've were out the first two…"

Had she really slept for two whole days? Sun didn't see her until now so had she woken up a day earlier? Guh. Yang rubbed her head when she thought too much into it. Whatever. It didn't really matter now. If it had been three days though… "Ruby hasn't woken up?"

Sun shook his head. "Not as far as I'm aware. She's got her own room though." Probably because of their uncle. "She's resting. She'll be alright though." Yang could tell that the normally chipper guy was feeling down. Then again, given everything that happened, she couldn't blame him.

"So...the rest of your team alright?" Yang asked. "Neptune and the others okay?"

Sun nodded. "Yea. They wore themselves out from fighting but they're good now."

"That's good."

"Yea..."

"..."

Well...it just got quiet real fast. Sun and her didn't hang out much, but come on. "So...how is everyone else doing?" Yang asked, "I've sort of been locked up here the entire time. They won't tell me much."

"Most of the professors and teachers are accounted for." They had their position at Beacon for a reason. "They've been taking up position around the city in case…" Sun didn't have to say it. In case any Grimm decide to cut their trip to Beacon short and come to Vale.

With the negativity and grief around all the people in Vale, it wasn't unrealistic to think the Grimm would be attracted to the town. If it really had been three days since the attack, then people were likely still scared. People would be shaken for weeks, if not months to come, and during that time there were bound to be more Grimm attacks, which meant even more negativity... Talk about a vicious cycle.

"What about the other teams?" Thinking about how everything sucked wasn't going to make things any better. The best she could do right now was get up to speed.

"All the teams from the tournament seem to be accounted for." Sun explained. "Nothing too serious. The students that are able are also set up around town. At least until it's their time to evacuate." Well that was good to hear. Though there were bound to be some people who probably weren't as…

No. Enough of that. Just keep thinking on the positive.

"Anything else?" Anything that she should know? "Weiss still tending to the others?" Or had she been moved to a lookout position.

"Weiss is still doing what she can for the injured." Sun confirmed.

It may have been better that she was acting like a nurse then scout for any signs of Grimm but when Yang thought of the things Weiss might see. All those wounds, the screaming and groaning? Yang clenched her bed sheets. Weiss would be stained with so much red. Still, it was safer, right? Not that Weiss couldn't take care of herself but there could be so many.

Yang hit herself in the forehead to Sun's worry. _Stop it! Yang Xiao Long, get ahold of yourself!_

"Eh, don't take it out on yourself?" It was the only thing Sun could come up with given her sudden action.

She smirked, letting out a small snicker and a wave of her hand to try and ease him. "Sorry. Was just teaching myself a lesson."

"Well try not to do anything that might involve injury. If you get hurt while i'm in the room, who do you think is going to be blamed?"

"Hm…" Now there was an idea.

"Yang, I'm serious here."

"What, afraid your girlfriend will hear about how bad a nurse you are?"

"That's not funny…"

"Geeze. Blake never likes my jokes either." Some people had no taste.

Sun cringed, glancing to the side. Yang couldn't help but notice how distraught he looked, the normally bright man's eyes dull and heavy, even as his teeth bit down on his lower lip.

"Sun… what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Sun..."

"Just recovering from all this crap."

"You're shaking."

Sun cursed under his breath.

"You're hiding something from me."

"Guys always hide stuff from girls. Not porn this time. I swear."

"Is this about Blake?" Were they having an argument?

"I-I should go. You probably need your rest."

Yang gripped Sun's wrist before he could flee, only to be dragged out of the bed and sent tumbling to the floor when he didn't stop. Her body folded beneath her. She wasn't even strong enough to kneel.

"Yang!" Sun knelt down to check on her, face full of concern "Are you okay?"

"Tell me!" She clutched the collar of Sun's shirt and dragged him face to face.

"I…"

"NOW!"

"I shouldn't…"

"You will if you don't want a black eye!"

Sun tried to look away but she was having none of it.

"Where. Is. Blake?" Sh pronounced each word carefully, just to make sure he couldn't misunderstand. Sun's eyes drifted shut.

"Gone…"

Yang felt her stomach drop.

"Gone? Gone where?"

He didn't respond.

"Where is she, Sun?"

"I don't know…"

"Where is my partner?"

"I don't know!"

He was useless. Yang pulled herself up and staggered to the door. She needed to find Weiss. Weiss would know where Blake was. Maybe by Ruby? She would have tended to her personally, Ruby was her partner.

Yang stepped out into the hallway, frantically looking around. Wooden hallways, wooden floors, oaken table to the sides with some fake flowers. Everything brown. Some kind of hotel, second of third floor judging by the view from the window. None of it mattered. She had to find...find...Weiss!

If she found Weiss then she would find Ruby and no doubt Blake as well. And if Blake was missing, Weiss would know where she was.

Yang took a step forward, only to tumble and fall on her face. She grit her teeth, trying to pull herself up against the wall. _Get up. Get up!_

She couldn't afford to just lay around anymore. With her shaking hand, she dragged herself along the wall, sliding with one shoulder constantly pressed against it to help prop her up. The soles of her feet burned and felt numb with each step, but she didn't care. She pushed on. She needed to find her team.

The next door was ajar and from within it, a tuft of familiar hair poked out from beneath white blankets.

"Ruby!" She pushed into the room, making her way to the bed before collapsing beside it. "Ruby…" One hand reached out, nervously hovering an inch from her sister's face. The skin was pale, paler than usual, but there was a faint rise and fall to her chest. She looked so fragile, even more so with the bandages crisscrossing over her eyes. "W-what happened to you?"

"I'm not sure." a voice said. "Her uncle won't tell me what happened. She's fine though, her eyes are fine and will heal."

Yang spun in time to see Weiss standing in the doorway.

"Sun told me you were moving. You should still be in bed." Weiss stepped into the room, placing some bandages down on the side. Yang could see some red stains on her normally immaculate dress.

"Weiss, where have you been? Where's Blake?"

"I've been out changing bandages on everybody. I just came to change Ruby's again."

"Where's Blake?"

"Things are chaotic out there. People injured, civilians and Hunters both."

"Weiss…"

Said girl look agitated from the scrunch on her face. She moved beside Yang before crouching down to change Ruby's bandages. "You might want to look away."

"You might want to answer my question."

Weiss sighed, "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me where Blake is."

Weiss' head snapped to Yang. "I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I mean, I can't." Weiss' hands fell from Ruby's face, giving up on changing the bandages. "No one knows where Blake is."

"I-I don't understand…"

"What do you mean you don't understand?" Weiss snapped. "She ran away. Left us. She did exactly what she said she would never do."

"You're lying…"

Weiss scoffed. "Excuse me? Why would I lie? Why would you even be surprised - running is all she ever did."

"Shut up..."

"She left us. She left Team RWBY. As soon as you and Ruby were injured, as soon as we turned our backs, she ran. She ran like the coward she is!"

"Shut up!" Yang almost shouted.

Weiss laughed. "What? You want to defend her? Defend this?" She motioned to Ruby. "She never cared about any of us. Not me, not Ruby - not you."

"I said, shut up!" Yang surged to her feet grasping the front of Weiss' dress and pushing her against the wall. Weiss was wrong. Blake would never run away. She had promised them. She had promised her!

"I have every right to speak!" Weiss struggled but couldn't get free. "I've been out there every day!" She pointed to the window. "Looking after the wounded, looking after Ruby - looking after _you_! Where's Blake when all of this is happening? Why isn't Blake helping me? Us? Anyone?! I'll tell you why! Because she's a cowardly bitch!"

"Take it back!" Weiss was pushed further up against the wall.

"You're right. She's part cat, isn't she? It would be more appropriate if she was part dog!"

"RARGH!" Weiss' shoulder slammed into the hardwood floor as Yang tossed her out of the room. The heiress' face was cut off a second later as Yang slammed the door shut. With tears forming in her eyes, she leaned up against the door falling to the floor.

"Yang…"

Yang clenched her eyes shut and gripped her golden locks.

"Yang...please…open the door."

Blake couldn't be gone. She couldn't be.

"Yang…" Weiss whispered. "Open the door. I'm sorry…"

Her knees pulled up to her chest as she rested her face on top of them.

"Yang…" A moment of silence. "I'll...leave you alone with Ruby. I'll change her bandages later. I'm...I'm sorry about Blake…"

"Go away…"

"Yang, I promised...I won't leave you…I'm not Blake. I'm part of the team and I'm not going anywhere."

Yang's teeth ached. Her body shook. This couldn't be happening. This had to be a nightmare. She would wake up. Her team would still be together. Beacon would still be in one piece. Everyone would be happy. Ruby would be awake and well.

She would have two arms...

"I'm going to go now…" Weiss paused. "I promise I'll be back."

"Don't bother..."

* * *

 **Still surprised this is actually happening. Glad to finally have a proper story out.**

 **Would once again like to thank Coeur Al'Aran for his assistance. Please like, comment and subscribe.**

 **People may not think much on it but every person who takes the time to do any or all of these things encourages me more than you can imagine. So by all means tell me what you thought of this chapter and future chapters. Thoughts, ideas, predictions. Anything you think that might be a mistake that I might be able to clear up. Or I may not be able to because it is important to the plot but I can't explain at that point in time. Point is, even if it's just to say nice job or something you think may be a problem, take the time to comment.**

 **So...yea...till next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second Chapter. Huza. Thanks for someone pointing out a slight error I had in my story about mentioning Pyrrha at a wrong time. Have edited that bit. Shouldn't really affect the story what so ever for any of you. Thanks for all those who commented, faved, and followed. It's nice. Like leather.**

 **Now, on with the chapter!**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

The third day of life at home was no different than the second, and that no different from the first. Lilac eyes snapped open, fist rearing forward as though to strike some invisible foe. Yang immediately regretted the action as she lurched forward, flopping onto her legs with a silent hiss. She stayed that way for a good minute or so, breathing whispering from between her lips, before she finally formed the strength needed to sit up straight, back coming to rest against the headboard.

"Ow…" Her back hurt from not straightening herself out earlier and continued to ache even as she sat there. She felt exhausted. Everything hurt.

For a moment, in her dreary state, she dared to hope. Dared to hope that it was all just a nightmare, that none of it had really happened. That Blake hadn't abandoned her… that Weiss hadn't taken her words to heart and not bothered coming back. That everything could be normal again... But as her senses slowly returned she knew the answer before she looked.

Her eyes darted toward the right anyway. And just as she remembered it, there it was - or to be more precise - there it wasn't.

Her hand clutched the soft blankets as she fell back on the bed, wincing at the motion. Her hand came up and over her eyes, shielding them from the harsh light of the nearby window. She cursed at herself for moving her right arm, if it could even be called that anymore. The natural reaction was still there.

The door of the room opened to reveal her dad with a tray of food. The ride to Patch had been filled with silence, she hadn't eaten much in Vale during her recovery either. The treatments had been intrusive and painful, just another reminder of what she had been through. She tried to forget them.

Her stomach grumbled as if to further remind her of the lack of food.

Her dad seemed pleased, his face creasing into a small smile. "Hungry?" he asked, laying the plate on her lap. "I made your favorite." Still steaming sausages with bacon and eggs along with some toast, all forced onto a single plate yet presented like it was a work of art. It was the kind of food Summer would have made when Yang was growing up. It brought back memories.

Normally it would have been enough to have her mouth watering, but now all she felt was a slight pang deep in her chest. She didn't want to eat, as hungry as she was, her heart wasn't in it.

But she had to try, she knew that. As much as the thought made her sick, her body needed it, needed the nutrients. With a shaky hand she picked up the fork and took it to one of the sausages. The utensil hovered above it, uncertain, before turning on its side and trying to cut through the meat with the edge. Taiyang sat nearby, an agonised expression on his face, but he knew better than to try and help. She wouldn't have let him. He had tried once or twice already. She rejected it each and every time. It made her feel useless.

The fork slipped, propelling the sausage to the side and knocking hot egg onto her sheets. Yang gasped as the food burned her skin beneath the blankets. Taiyang quickly rose and scooped it off her, wincing himself at the heat.

Yang gripped her sheets in pain and frustration, teeth grit together so hard it felt they might break.

"Sorry, sorry!" Her dad looked panicked as his hands fidgeted around looking for something to do. For something to make her feel better. "Here." He took the fork from her hand, holding a piece of the sausage to her face.

Yang glanced away from the food. "I'm not hungry anymore." she lied.

"Yang." her dad cooed, but she kept her gaze elsewhere. "You need to get your strength back."

She didn't respond, nor did she make eye contact.

"Yang, please." He pressed the sausage toward her lips but she turned further away till hot meat pushed against her cheek. "Okay…" After a moment of him just staring at her with some sympathetic, pitying look, he stepped back and placed the plate on the table beside her. "If you need anything, just shout. I'm here for you sweetheart."

She still didn't respond and only once she heard the door shut closed did she focus her gaze to where her father once stood. The smell of still steaming food drew her eyes to the plate once more.

She licked her lips as her stomach growled. She _was_ hungry but she also wasn't... it didn't really make sense, even to her. The pain in her stomach kept pining, but the knot in her throat prevented her from trying to eat. In the end, her stomach won and she reached out for the plate only to pause when her fingers wrapped around the edge. She retracted her hand and clutched her chest. Taking several deep breaths before laying back down on her bed.

She felt weak, the weakest she had ever felt in her life. Gripping most things with her left hand felt weird and even more so with her sore muscles.

She wasn't hungry anymore...

* * *

Yang could hear the bath water filling up the tub as she struggled to get undressed. The shirt would have been easy to remove if it wasn't for her long mane. She'd never had trouble with it in the past. Her pants were a bit easier, at least they would have been if she had tried removing them while she was seated. She hopped on one leg for a moment to get the leg hole off before leaning to the right only to trip. She instinctively held both hands out to cushion her fall but instead shouted out in pain when she fell on her stump. She clutched it, which only lead to more pain which in turn led to her gripping it even tighter.

"Yang!" Her dad knocked frantically on the locked door. She didn't answer, and a second later heard the frame shake. He was going to bust the door down to get to her. "Yang! Are you alright?"

"Go away!" she shouted through the pain. "I can handle it!"

"Yang, please! I can he-"

"Leave me alone!" Yang snapped. She curled into herself when the banging finally stopped. She didn't bother to listen to whatever words her father whispered. She just wanted to be left alone. There was no telling how long she laid on the cold, wooden floor. Enough to make her side ache. She lifted her naked form up and staggered towards the sink.

Leaning forward, Yang looked at the mirror above her, trying her best to keep herself steady. Her hair was a mess. At a distance it might have looked okay, but that was because you couldn't see the knots starting to slowly form. Her blonde hair was good at hiding damage, anything that seemed like a knot could just be mistaken for a curl or just sink into her wild mane. Up close though, when she was looking for a problem, the damage was apparent.

It would need a good brushing at the very least. Grabbing the brush from the edge of the sink, she lifted it to the side of her head. The problem was obvious a second later.

She usually held a lock of hair in one hand and brushed with the other. It wasn't like a girl brushing with one hand was unheard of, but with her long mane and tangled hair, it would be a pain in the ass.

Yang sighed before lifting her brush anyway. Might as well- "Ow!" Yang winced, tugging the brush. The bristles had gotten stuck in her hair, and when she let go it dangled there, suspended.

Pulling at the handle, Yang let out a low growl. When it wasn't quite coming undone, she braced herself before giving a quick yank she winced at the feeling of strands being pulled out.

She took a deep breath before trying again, this time on the ends of her hair. It wasn't nearly as difficult, but the effects were little. Every time she tried to brush just a little higher, the brush would get stuck and she would have to yank it free along with some gold. Before long, the sink was dotted with yellow strands of fine hair. She looked down at it, panting in frustration.

"Screw it." The brush clattered into the sink as she tossed it aside. She didn't need to fix her hair. Even so, it still bothered her and the lingering pain kept reminding her of it. She took another deep breath, which didn't really do much for her anger, before sliding into the tub.

The water was hot, the steam working to relax her aching muscles. Her chest rose as she took what must have been her fifth deep sigh that day. Everything was difficult. Every little task, every little action - but soaking in the tub helped to ease her mind. To help her forget.

Or at least it did, until she tried to lean back into the water, only to rocket up with a hiss, her severed stump feeling as if it were on fire. She clutched the wounded limb with her free and only hand, fighting back tears as scalding hot water trickled down tender flesh.

Biting down on the scream that threatened to escape, Yang's lip bled.

The pain was brief but agonizing. A minute after it came it was already gone but the lingering effects - not to mention the memory of it - prevented her from daring to dip back into the water. Okay, looked like having a bath was out of the question too. Just another thing she'd need help with.

Yang lowered her head at the thought of it. Like a small child unable to even wash herself. Was she that useless?

A fist slammed against the wall, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. _No. Not again. Not this time. I don't need help._ She didn't need anyone.

And she didn't need this bath either. It wasn't like she had to bother with keeping up appearances anyway. She was no longer beautiful, she was a cripple. Her hand pressed into her golden mane, feeling the strands between her fingers _._ She didn't need this either.

 _I can cut it later..._

It would just be a bother from now on. She couldn't take care of it and her dad would just offer Yang to do it for her.

Her hand tightened around the sink at the thought of her dad's insistence. Telling her she wasn't eating enough, or that she wasn't taking care of herself. It was her body and she could do whatever she wanted with it. It would be better this way, cut it short and be done with it. Maybe up to her shoulders if not higher. The less hair the better.

It… it would be easier...

* * *

Yang spent most of the remainder of the morning and part of the afternoon in bed, laying down and occasionally looking at her scroll. For a few hours she tried looking at videos, but what had once been enough to have her rolling over in laughter now brought nothing more than short sighs. The news was no less grim, with no pun intended as the monsters continued to attack villages surrounding Vale. After a while she gave up, putting the scroll down on the side and simply laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had managed to eat a small portion of the food her dad had left, though it was mostly the toast.

Some time later, maybe it was the afternoon - it was difficult for her to keep track of the time but she was fairly sure it was the middle of the day - Yang groaned when she heard her father calling for her to come down stairs. Couldn't he just come up to her? Not that she wanted to talk to anyone but at least save her the effort.

After the first minute or so Yang thought he'd let it go, but when he kept shouting her name she let out a frustrated groan and sat up. Her feet carried her over to and out the door, before she slowly descended the stairs, arm against the wooden wall in an effort to keep balance.

Even that familiar and simple action felt exhausting. She used to be capable of running up and down these stairs chasing after Ruby whenever it was her reluctant sister's bath time. Maybe it was the injury, or maybe it was the long recovery, but right now she didn't feel like she could even climb back up unassisted.

Yang heard vague mumbling, no doubt her dad talking to Zwei or maybe even Qrow. With a sigh she pushed the door open-

Only to freeze in shock.

"Surprise!"

Yang's eyes widened, mouth falling open as she looked at the colorful people filling the room. People she knew, squashed awkwardly into the a living room too small for them. Yang immediately recognised them, how could she not? She'd grown up with most of them. Friends from Signal who she had classes with, some who weren't fighters at all but who she'd grown up with in Patch. One or two even went to Beacon with her but ended up having to go back to Patch after failing the initiation. There was even that friend of Ruby's, the faunus.

"Surprise! Eh, again." She felt her dad's hands fall on her shoulders as he let out an awkward laugh. "Looks like all your friends are here! Well you already know that because you're staring at them."

"W-wha…?"

"I thought you might want to see them!" He smiled at her, eyes shining, "That it might cheer you up. Let you catch up with the old gang!"

Yang looked away from her father and back to her grinning and waving friends. They were all really there. She felt her lips twitch, a tentative smile working its way across her face. It had been so long since she'd seen most of them, and in some small way it was a breath of relief to see that not all her friends had abandoned her. She didn't know what to say, and so instead of saying anything she waved shyly, feeling more like Ruby than her usual self.

"Are you feeling better?" One of them asked, stepping forward.

"Does anything hurt?" Another hovered nearby - before more and more questions were fired her way.

"How are things with Ruby?"

"Is she even awake?"

"Your father wouldn't tell us squat."

Yang staggered back, overwhelmed by the questions, only to be pushed down into a sofa by concerned hands, friends sitting down on either side of her. A glass of water was pushed into her hand with a small tray of mostly eaten snacks nudged onto her lap. Yang tried to reach for some and winced a moment later. She saw the same reaction on their faces for a brief moment before they hid it behind smiles. She couldn't pick up any food, not with her hand already holding the glass.

"Sorry," Yang said. "I must look like a mess."

"You look fine."

"No, you look fantastic!"

"As beautiful as ever." Another laughed. The responses were immediate, a little too immediate. With cautious eyes she noticed how the girl on her right steadfastly refused to look at the severed stump of her arm, even though it was hidden behind thick bandages. She definitely looked different… it seemed they'd all noticed.

Yang tried to ignore it, answering what questions she could before more were added on. They wanted to know about Beacon, her friends, how Ruby had adjusted, what funny things they had gotten up to. They caught her up on all the gossip around school and Patch. Who was dating who. The local scandals, things that had changed. Normally she'd have been really into it but she felt herself slowly drifting into her own mind. Their questions about Beacon, no matter how innocent, only served to remind her of how it had all ended.

She excused herself a second later, stumbling over to a different conversation. She'd never been one to flee like that before, but right now she couldn't handle the hadn't been there… they wouldn't understand. They couldn't.

Yang caught up with a pair of girls chatting by the window. They'd always had something to say about someone back in Signal, and it wasn't unusual for Yang to spend entire dinner hours talking with them. They nodded in greeting as she approached, creating a space for her to step in and into the conversation.

"Hey Yang, we were just talking about the Achieve Men. Their new album is coming out."

"Oh," Yang grinned, "I haven't had a chance to hear it."

"It's the biggest one yet! Michel's singing was amazing! He's always amazing but this one in particular." Both girls sighed, much to Yang's amusement. "He's so dreamy."

"Oh...yea…" Yang said, trying to remember which one that was. She had really been into the Achieve Men at first but with Beacon and training to become a Huntress, it had all sort of just gotten away from her.

"I think Gaven Freed shined the most though."

The first girl gasped. "Clearly we aren't talking about the same boy band."

"Apparently not." The second girl agreed.

"Yang!" Both girls chirped turning to her.

"Y-yea?"

"Who do you think is best?"

"W-well I haven't seen the latest album so…"

"Does it matter? You don't need to see their music to tell who's the best looking."

"E-even so…"

"Here!" One of the girls pulled out her scroll, flipping through some images before pushing the screen to Yang's face. "Michel Johns is clearly the best looking, right?"

"Only if Gaven wasn't involved."

Yang looked at the band before her. The figures were familiar, though they seem to lack the same `wow` factor they once had. The band members were thin and wiry, not at all like the men she was used to hanging around with back at Beacon. Even compared to Jaune these guys looked weak… somehow less impressive.

"Michel I guess…" Yang finally responded. In truth, they looked the same and she couldn't bring herself to care. That had been happening a lot lately.

"I told you!" Yang heard one of the girls say.

"Yang's only saying that because she hasn't seen the album!" the other girl said. "If she did, she'd definitely agree with me!"

"Would not!"

"Would too!"

Yang drifted away while they were arguing, a weak sigh escaping from her lips. Talking about guys… it used to be one of her favourite hobbies, especially the famous and good-looking ones. Now it all sounded so silly. What was the point of knowing what celebrity was dating who, how much did that matter in the scheme of things really? Yang felt older than them now, like she could no longer find the things they talked about interesting.

She felt an immediate longing for people who had gone through the same thing. To talk to her friends. A flash of pain shot through her mind as she remembered just how those same friends had left her.

She hoped Ruby would wake up soon.

Yang found herself wandering into the kitchen, leaving the two girls behind with a weak excuse. If they noticed then they didn't say anything, which was probably for the best. She just couldn't be bothered at the moment. She needed a minute to herself. The buffet table provided just that and for a moment she hoped the food in her mouth would stop people from trying to talk to her. She was wrong.

"So…" The guy, someone from Patch, looked at her awkwardly, "How does it feel?" She nearly choked on her food. "With the whole arm thing?"

Yang chugged down a glass of water to clear her throat, though maybe that wasn't such a good idea now that she had no excuse to stay quiet.

"I mean…" He waved his hands around trying to come up with a way to say it. "What are you going to do now? Career wise and eh... everything wise."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked, uncertain despite herself. The question sounded so innocently asked and yet her mind refused to process it. The boy shrugged awkwardly, waving one hand before speaking.

"Well, you can't be a hunter anymore, can you?"

Yang felt sick. Her insides went cold as the brutal reality of those words washed over her. She couldn't be, could she? Ha ha.. of course she couldn't. What school wanted a huntress with one arm? How many Grimm could a useless cripple slay?

"I…" She swallowed the knot stuck in her throat and looked around. To her horror she realised everyone was looking at her, watching, listening. They all wanted to know, didn't they? It was just that none of them had felt brave enough to ask, until now. Yang found herself unable to answer. Not just because she didn't want to, but because she didn't know the answer. What was she going to do?

She had always wanted to be a Huntress. It was all that had ever mattered because it was what she was good at. It was what she would be able to do with Ruby.

Oh God, Ruby…

Ruby, when she woke up, and she _would_ wake up, would still be a Huntress, wouldn't she? She would go out on missions, find a new team and risk her life against the Grimm. And then one day she would go out and never come back.

Just like Summer.

Except that unlike Summer, Ruby should have been able to rely on her sister to stand beside her.

It took her a moment to realise that all eyes were on her. They were staring, her father with abject concern. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to rush over and hold her, to try and make all her problems go away. He looked at her like she was weak, flimsy and broken - like she needed him. And she _was_ broken… wasn't she?

It had just taken her a little while to realise.

"I…" She… "I can't." Yang stepped back, head lowered, bangs obstructing her vision. One step become two and two became three, until before she knew it, she was already in full flight to her room.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't face them.

She couldn't handle the pity in their eyes.

Yang didn't listen to her father's words through her door. She was too busy sobbing into her sheets, drawing the blanket up to her chin as she curled into a small ball. She just wanted to be left alone and to sleep. To just sleep and forget, to forget about everything.

So that was what she did. She shut her eyes tight and laid there until sleep finally came. If she was dreaming, then maybe she wouldn't be able to think about how her future as a Huntress was over. How her sister would end up apart from her because of her profession. How she wouldn't be there for Ruby when she really needed it.

Sleep finally took her when she had stopped crying, or maybe it was that she ran out of tears. She slept and slept for hours. In the brief moments between consciousness she might have heard her dad knock on the door for dinner, but she ignored it. She didn't want to be with anyone.

It must have been a day that passed by, maybe two, since when her dad finally came in, it was with breakfast. Cut pieces of toast and cheese along with a plate of sliced apples. He had clearly felt that he needed to cut all her food for her. He was probably right. He was just being considerate, she tried to tell herself, but the truth of it still hurt.

Yang ate just enough to keep the stinging pain in her stomach at bay. A half sliced piece of toast with cheese along with a single piece of apple. It tasted dull, her mouth feeling damp from sleeping the entire day. But it was enough to stop her body demanding more, and that was all that mattered. She didn't eat any more, no matter what gentle words her dad whispered.

It felt like there was no point. If she couldn't be a Huntress, if she couldn't be the person she'd spent the last ten years of her life trying to become, then what was she to do? Trapped in a spiral of her own memories, the flashes and screams of Beacon - the sight of a red blade, stained with her crimson blood. It had her waking at night, covered in sweat and panting in terror. She could not escape him, even in the sanctity of her home.

Yang wondered if it would ever change, or if it would haunt her forever.

But on the fifth day something did change.

On the fifth day, Ruby woke up.

* * *

 **Le gasp. Such drama and feels. At least, I hope you think it that way. If only Rooster Teeth showed us this. Still, I do love them all. But anyway, I'm sure you can tell me and Coeur both appreciate a damaged character and their struggle to get past their problems. Will Yang be able to?**

 **Also, this chapter is a bit shorter than the first but it won't keep being like that. I try to shoot for around 5k or so words per chapter. It will be more closer if not a bit higher to that number in the upcoming chapters. Promise.**

 **Update Schedule: Anyway, I will be updating these stories once a month on the first day of each month. At least, that is the plan. See no particular problems with that schedule. As time goes on, it may change to be more frequent.**

 **Well, I look forward to your feedback.**


	3. Chapter 3

**To my canine companion, I wish I could have done more...**

* * *

 ** **Beta:**** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 3**

* * *

"Yang…?"

She didn't respond at the call of her name, even with the fragile tone behind it. Of course it belonged to her sister. Who else could it be? They had been together for fifteen years. She would recognise that voice anywhere.

Even through the haze of misery, Ruby was a welcome breath of fresh air. It wasn't enough to make Yang's life feel perfect, but for a moment it felt just a little brighter. Right now, it was the only thing she didn't despise. Her hand clutched the sheets when she heard Ruby's footsteps bring her into the room.

"Ruby…" The footsteps stopped. She could feel the gaze on her. Ruby was looking at her. What did Ruby see? Did she see her older sister or a cripple? Did she see someone who failed their team mates? Someone who pushed Weiss away?

Yang looked down at herself. She hadn't bathed in days. She had the same wrinkled clothes as the day before. Her hair was a mess. Would Ruby even recognize her? Would she even want to speak to her?

"Yang!" Ruby ran over to her and brought her into a soft embrace, Yang had never felt warmer. Not from the hottest days or toughest battles with her semblance activated. She allowed herself to show weakness in front of Ruby. The tears that were forming up fell as she curled into her sister more. Her hand leaving the sheets and lightly encircling Ruby's waist.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Yang could hear the cracks in Ruby's voice. She was worried. Of course she was worried. She was Ruby.

"I'm not okay."

But maybe with Ruby here she could be...

"So, sis… how ya doin?" Yang gave her best attempt at a smile. Though by the look on Ruby's face, she didn't buy it fully. "Are your eyes feeling okay? Can you see properly?"

"Oh, yea…" Ruby's hand moved up to her face. "I still don't get it all but I'm okay now. How… how are you?"

"I may need a… hand…" One of her typical puns but the reminder sort of ruined it. Neither of them laughed. "Sorry… just… trying to lighten the mood."

"I know…" Ruby held Yang's hand before pressing their foreheads together. "Your puns were never the best choice for that."

"Ouch." Yang gave a fake wince but her energy still wasn't in it.

"..."

"..."

Ruby sighed. "This...isn't working, is it? The whole pretending nothing happened thing..."

"No... but I appreciate the attempt…" Ruby was trying to make things normal between them, how they might have been on any other morning in Patch. Yang could appreciate that effort… even if there was nothing normal about this. It was just Ruby showing how much she cared.

"Are you...okay?" Ruby repeated the question before nodding to Yang's right arm… or what was left of it.

If any other person had asked, like how her friends had, Yang might have gone silent or maybe even reacted with aggression. But Ruby wasn't any other person. She didn't ask because she was curious, like Yang was some kind of charity case. Ruby's eyes were filled with nothing but love and concern. Ruby was Ruby. She had been there, she had been through the same things as her. Well, almost everything.

"I've been better...at least I get breakfast in bed."

"Yang…" Ruby still seemed worried.

"Lost weight." Yang quipped.

"Yang…"

"T'is but a flesh wound."

Ruby seemed to finally realise that she wasn't going to get anywhere. People always said that Ruby was socially inept, but between the two of them things were much easier. Ruby knew when Yang didn't want to talk about something. She knew when to drop the issue.

"What happened after we split up at Beacon? Uncle Qrow told me a little bit but not much."

Yang felt a rush of pain and anxiety. She clutched her chest, taking a deep breath to try and stay calm. That probably gave Ruby reason to worry even more. She hadn't even felt confident to talk to her father or uncle about what happened, Ruby though... she deserved to know.

"After...after we split up, the Atlas robots started attacking us and ignoring the Grimm. We met up with team CFVY but I heard that there were people in the cafeteria in danger and went off there. You know me, always running into trouble." And this time, it really screwed her over. "There was this crazy White Fang member. Claimed he was the leader…" Yang shrugged and motioned to her right arm. "It...didn't go too well." She felt Ruby's hand tighten around her. "I was dragged off to safety by someone. Don't remember who. Was out cold for a few days so anything more, your guess is as good as mine."

Heavily summarised, maybe missing a detail or two but it was the gist of what happened. It was all Ruby really needed to know.

"...But…" Ruby hesitated for a moment with her hands out as if to touch Yang again. "What about Blake and Weiss?"

Yang felt a headache coming on at the mention of the two. Hand clutched into her sheets. Any good mood Yang might have had was washed away in an instant. Of course Ruby would bring them up. Why wouldn't she?

"They… left…"

 _Don't ask._

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean they left."

 _Stop asking._

"Left where?"

"Weiss to Atlas, Blake, who knows…"

"Why?"

"How should I know?!" Yang almost-screamed. Blake had run away, like she always said she would. She'd left when the going got tough. When Yang needed her most. Weiss… Weiss had taken Yang's advice… and left. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Yang…"

Yang turned her head away from Ruby. "I'm tired…" she said, laying further into the bed.

"Okay…" Yang didn't dare looked at Ruby's face. She could feel the sad expression burrow into the back of her head. "I love you…"

Yang clenched her eyes shut. Seeing Ruby made her feel happy. Made her feel better. Ruby was the last person who was still with her. But she wasn't ready to talk about Blake and Weiss yet. She wasn't ready to break the news on how their team mates had abandoned them. She wasn't ready for Ruby to hate her for driving Weiss away.

"I love you too..."

* * *

"..." Yang regretted everything. This was almost as awkward as when her dad sat her down and tried to have the birds and the bees talk with her.

Her dad had called her down for breakfast and she would have refused to leave her room like the last few days but he played dirty and got Ruby to call after her. She couldn't refuse her little sister. Especially after all that had happened.

That did not, however, make this 'family breakfast' any less awkward. For a minute or so there was pure silence. Nothing but the silverware colliding with the plates being heard.

"So…" And of course her dad had to speak up to try and bridge the gap of silence. "How are you both doing?"

"I'm good." Ruby gave a nod with an overly joyful, or for Ruby, just a normal smile.

"Dandy." Was all Yang said before munching on her conveniently sliced meat and fruit. The fuck were they supposed to say? Great daddy, please pass the salt? Speaking of salt-

"Here you go." Her sister seemed to sense what she was about to reach for since she grabbed the salt and handed it to her.

"Thanks…" Yang took the shaker before sprinkling it around the meat.

"How is the situation at Beacon?" Ruby turned to her dad for an answer. Guess she wasn't satisfied with the answers Yang had given her.

"It's...contained for the moment." Tai answered. "Your uncle told me that they were forming small camps around the Emerald Forest to control the situation."

"That's good…" Ruby didn't seem very relieved but she hid it well.

"Vale will be getting more support in the coming months." Their father tried to assure. "Things just need time to settle down."

"Time heals all wounds?" Yang quipped. She regretted it when Ruby faced her with a worried expression. Ah yes, that was right. No amount of time would give her arm back.

"This isn't the first time Remnant has had a crisis." Their dad came to the rescue. "Humanity has gone through some difficult times in the past. This is just another one of those times but it will pass."

Pass? So all of this was just another thing that would be written down in the history books to study in school? Would she be able to leave this behind as well?

"..." Yang glanced down to the remains of her arm. Like Hell it would. How could she forget about this? About any of it? Some kids born a decade or more from now may not have any problem with it, but for the people who went through it, people like her… Vale had lost a school but Yang had lost everything.

Yang glanced up to her worried looking sister before flashing her a small smile. Well...almost everything. Stretching a hand out, Yang placed a piece of toast on her plate before reaching for the butter.

"Let me." Ruby seemed to think she had a problem with the distance since she quickly got the butter and her toast, buttering it before Yang could get a word in edgewise. "Here you go!" Ruby seemed so happy to do that little thing for her, so pleased to have helped that Yang couldn't bring herself to be upset.

"Thanks…" She felt a little pang at the reminder of her limitations, but Ruby didn't mean anything by it. She didn't have a bad bone in her body. So she took the toast before taking a bite out of it. A little less tasty than she imagined. Maybe she wasn't as hungry as she thought. She glanced up from her plate in time to notice the small smile form on her old man's face. She just grunted and looked away. Whatever.

"So, any plans for this week Ruby?"

"Uh, I don't know." Ruby tapped her chin and looked to her legs as if seriously considering it. "Oh, maybe I can help with the rebuilding?"

"No." Her dad beat her to it. "I mean, you're still weak. You need to rest."

"...Kay…" Ruby seemed down for a moment before raising her head. "Firewood?"

Taiyang shook his head in amusement. "Most girls would think of less laborious activities but I won't turn down the help."

"I'm awesome that way." Ruby gave a wide grin with her hands on her hips.

"I'll help." Yang said.

"You…" Ruby seemed to pause when Yang looked to her. Like she was afraid to say speak or move. "Sure." She then nodded with a wide smile. "The more the merrier!" Was it Yang's imagination or had Ruby's silver eyes wandered down to her arm for just a second?

Yang decided not to comment on it. She just wanted some time outside the house. She tried to distract herself with more food, reaching out again, this time for some bacon and eggs.

Eating with one hand was difficult but it was something she was starting to get use to. That was good, right? It was all about pinning the food to the edge of the plate and applying a lot of pressure and cutting with the base of the fork. It took time, probably always would, but she cut through. She cut her food. Not her dad.

Before she could properly start, however, Ruby piped up before pulling the plate from underneath.

"I got it!" Ruby eagerly cut all the food on her plate into neat bite size pieces before sliding the plate back to her sister. Yang looked down at the neatly cut pieces before clutching her hand. She knew it was Ruby being Ruby but still…

"Thanks." She gave a weak smile before picking up one of the pieces and putting it in her mouth. Ruby smiled happily, glad to see she had helped her sister enjoy her meal. Yang faked one in return as she chewed.

The food tasted like ash.

* * *

"Yang! Dad's already outside!"

"Coming!" Yang shouted from her room before placing all the clothes she needed to wear on the bed. It was the middle of Autumn and bitterly cold outside so heavier clothing was needed. It would start snowing soon too.

She picked a brown puffy jacket with thick grey pants and a furry hat to top it off. Not the most fashionable of winter clothing but the warm fabric would do. Taking off her light clothes wasn't as much of a problem as before. She had learned from her mistakes. Sit down and remove clothes. Putting them on, on the other hand, and with clothing this thick, was more of a challenge.

"Yang!" Who Yang assumed was Ruby came through the door. Yang couldn't tell on account of the brown jacket suffocating her face. "Yang!" The second call of her name sounded more worried. She felt hands helping the jacket pulled down on her before she could properly see. "Are you okay?"

Yang waved it off. "Just winning a battle with my clothing. It's two to one so far."

"Do you need any help?"

"I'm fine." Yang zipped the jacket shut and reached for her boots before sitting down at the edge of her bed.

"Let me." Ruby was already kneeling beside her, holding the boot out for Yang to stick her foot in.

"Ruby…" Yang held in a sigh. "I don't need help with everything." She wasn't useless.

"I know!" Ruby gave a smile. "I just want to help my sister!"

Yang let out the sigh she held in before pushing her foot in through the boot. Here she was being dressed by her own little sister. The roles suddenly seemed reversed, and worse than that, from when Ruby was a mere baby.

Their father was waiting for them at the door to the house. Zwei nipping around his heels to both sister's amusement.

"Ruby?"

"Just one sec...there!" Ruby had placed Yang's glove on her. They both paused as they realised one glove remained, for what would have been her other hand. Ruby swallowed and put it down on the side, trying to pretend the awkward situation hadn't happened. "All done!"

Their father leaned against the axe on the log. "You girls ready?"

"Yes sir!" Ruby chirped up before rushing to grab some logs.

Yang let out a sigh, smiling at her sister's enthusiasm. All they had to do was collect the logs stacked against the nearby wall and bring them over for him to cut. Zwei would then pick up the chopped pieces and carry them proudly to the basket.

Yang moved over to pick up a log from the floor. Before she could even feel the weight of the log, Ruby was already there holding her piece with a smile.

"I got this!" She zipped away placing the pieces beside their dad.

Yang just shrugged before reaching for another piece only for Ruby to be there again. "Ruby…"

"Yea, sis?" She seemed so energetic and ready to please.

"This isn't a competition you know. No one is keeping score."

"Zwei is." Ruby pointed to the barking dog.

"And who's winning?" Yang asked.

"I am!" Again, so cheerful.

"Maybe I could give you a run for your money if you didn't cheat."

"I...wasn't cheating." She heard the hesitation in Ruby's voice.

"Then i'm going to take this piece." Yang reached for a log.

"Um…" Ruby raised her hand as if to ask a question. "Maybe that log?" It took Yang a second to understand why the specific log. It was noticeably smaller than the one she was reaching for.

"..." Yang didn't say anything as she reached for an even _bigger_ piece than the one she was going for, just to show that she could. Ruby looked worried as she staggered for a moment, placing the large log over her shoulder before dropping it beside her dad. "See? No need to worry. That should count as two."

She expected to see her sister laugh and smile. To complain about how it still counted as one piece. But she didn't. She looked… afraid. Her sister looked afraid and she was looking at her.

"We can count it as one if you really want…" Yang tried to joke. It felt flat even to her. It had been happening with a lot of her jokes lately.

Zwei's bark seemed to snap them both out of the silence seeming to sense something was wrong. That or the fact that he had no more pieces to bring to the basket.

"R-right." Ruby let out an awkward laugh as she picked up another piece and headed toward her dad.

"Ruby…"

"Gotta hurry!" Ruby attempted to cheer before passing her sister.

An hour or so passed with little bits of conversation in between the two with the occasional comment from Taiyang.

Yang gave short heavy pants, her chest rising and falling as she brushed sweat from her brow. Maybe taking the biggest pieces she could find wasn't the best idea. No, that couldn't be it. Sure she was using only one arm but she was using her shoulder for support. She should still have plenty of energy. So why did it feel like she had been working for a lot longer than an hour?

"Yang?" Her sister stopped her with an arm, a worried expression on her face. "Don't you think it's time you had a break?" Ruby didn't seem all that tired. Maybe slightly faster breaths but nowhere near as much as her.

"Are you taking a break?"

"N-no." Ruby hesitated.

"Then I'm good too." She shrugged off the arm before taking another log, it must have been heavier than it looked since she stumbled for a second before the log fell out of her grip.

"Yang?" Her sister was beside her again kneeling a little with her. "On second thoughts I think I _am_ ready for a break."

"Well I'm not!" Yang brushed off her sister's arm again before reaching for the same log. "I can keep working."

"Well, I can't keep up with the two of you." Her dad's foot came into view. "Let's all take a break. For my sake."

"You're such an old man!" Ruby giggled but gave a salute, dropping the log.

"...Whatever." Yang stood back up before heading inside for some privacy. _Can't keep up, huh?_ Yea right. She knew her father. He was a hunter. Though she didn't know his exact limits, she knew he could go on for a few more hours easy. He always had when they chopped fire wood.

She slammed her fist into the wooden wall before heading upstairs to change. She knew the real reason. They weren't stopping because of their dad. They were stopping because of her. She was holding them back.

She was a burden...

* * *

Ruby had been tailing Yang since then. She thought she was being sneaky like always but Ruby was about as subtle as an Ursa. Even as a kid, she would try to act like a ninja in one of those video games she would play as on her scroll.

Yang finally had enough, both from the tailing and the reminder she had upset her sister. Yang headed upstairs and was relieved when Ruby didn't immediately follow her. A minute later though she heard a knock on her door.

"Yang…" Ruby didn't open the door till she heard Yang's permission. "I uh, wanted to see how you were doing…" She said everything with a worried tone.

"I'm...fine Ruby. Wanna come in?" And not stand just outside her room.

"Kay…" Ruby took one small step in before followed by another. "Hi…"

"Hey." Yang smiled at her sister's attempt to start a conversation.

"I-I'm sorry if…" Ruby was fidgeting with her fingers with her voice lower than usual. "I mean whatever I did to upset you... I didn't mean to."

"I know Ruby…" She held her hand out and after a moment, Ruby took it before giving her a hug. "You couldn't be bad if you tried."

"B-but I didn't try." That's what Ruby seemed to find the problem in. "I mean I was trying to be the opposite of bad. I was trying to be good but it wasn't working and I was doing something wrong-"

She was babbling. That meant Ruby had no idea what to do. She likely didn't even know what she had done wrong. It brought a small frown on Yang's face but she quickly replaced it with a smile. "Ruby…" She gave a light squeeze of her sister's hand making Ruby stop. "I know…" Even if Ruby didn't, Yang knew. "Just...give me a bit of space, okay?" She looked up to her sister from her seat. "I just need some time is all."

"Okay…"

There was a moment of silence between the two sisters. "Well...I'm going to go take a bath." She had gotten eating and clothes down for the most part, she needed to focus on bathing sooner or later.

"Do you need help with your hair?"

"Ruby…"

Ruby held her hand out before Yang could start to argue. "I-I didn't mean that you couldn't. I meant like to help with the places you couldn't reach or um...to make things go faster."

Ruby must have felt her excuses were weak since she retreated back into herself. Fidgeting with her skirt and rubbing her feet together.

Yang didn't want to stay mad at Ruby. She got mad when she...well got mad at Ruby. Mad at herself. Mad that she was upset with her little sister. She wanted to fix what was damaged between them.

"Okay." Ruby seemed to perk up at her reply. "I could...use the help."

Yang slipped out of her clothes and slid into the tub. Ruby took the retractable shower head and let the cold water rush out till it was warm before wetting Yang's hair. Yang felt the water wet every single strand of her hair, from her scalp to the edges of her strands. Yang shut her eyes, letting herself truly relax for the first time in what seemed like forever.

She heard the water drizzle out of the shower head and felt the droplets land on her hair and trickle down her sides. It felt nice.

For a moment she thought she hear Ruby cut the cheese but when something cool pressed at her head, she realised it had been some shampoo being squeezed out. She hadn't used that in like a week. She really did need it to keep her hair from tangling up. Ruby squirted a fair amount onto her hair given the length of it. She let out another content sigh as she felt her hair loosening up as the water cleared any of the soapy material.

Yang had to admit, even as she had moved into the tub, she wasn't so eager to have help. Even if it was from Ruby. But this...might not have been so bad.

That was until she felt Ruby's hand rubbing soap on places other than her scalp. At first she thought Ruby's hand slipped and just continued with rubbing soap down her neck. But then her hands rubbed around her shoulders before trying to move to her back.

"Ruby…" Yang called out more in a warning then to get her attention.

"Just cleaning... around." The shoulders were one thing but after Ruby had finished with that, she was focusing on Yang's back.

"Ruby…" Yang tried to straighten up only for Ruby to try and keep her still with one hand while cleaning with the other.

"Just let me-"

"NO!" Yang shoved Ruby, causing her to stumble back against the wall. A moment of silence following aside from the heavy breathing of both sisters. "For God's sake Ruby, I don't need your help with this. With anything!"

"I…" Ruby straightened herself from the shove and took a quick breath of air. "I know you don't _need_ my help but I thought it be easier if-"

"I don't want easy!" Yang snapped. "I want things to be done my way! With just me! Back to normal!"

"Yang…" Ruby whispered her sister's name before glancing away. "But...but they can't."

If Ruby had looked at Yang, she would have noticed her lilac eyes turning red. "Get. Out."

"Yang-"

"I said, get out!" Yang snapped up from the tub before throwing a shampoo bottle at Ruby. "Leave me alone! I don't need your help! I don't _want_ your help!"

"Yang, I just want to help. I-"

"Like you did with my food? And the logs? And my freaking bath?!" Yang wasn't giving Ruby a moment to try and make up some excuse. If Ruby was too young or innocent to understand, then Yang would make her understand. "That's not help. That's babying! Your version of helping isn't helping at all!" Yang was trying to come up with coherent words to explain to Ruby. "Helping is Jaune holding a hand out so that you could stand up. It's not him picking you up, walking you to initiation and doing all the fighting for you!" The water on Yang's body was turning into steam. She gritted her teeth at the pang of pain in her arm but ignored it. She needed to say this. Ruby needed to hear this. "You...You…" Yang lowered her head, her bangs hiding most of her vision. "You make me feel useless. Like I'm less than human. Like I'm some sort of…" Yang held her hand out to look at. "Like I'm damaged goods…" That's what the worst part was, wasn't it? She _was_ damaged...even more damaged than she was before all of this.

When Yang finally looked back up, she could see her sister shaking. Biting down on her lower lip to try and stop the quivering. She could see tears forming and threatening to break through as she took a step back from Yang. "I…" Her voice sounded cracked. "I didn't mean…"

"It doesn't matter what you meant! It matters what you've done!" Yang knew she should stop but the bottled rage that had been held in for so long wouldn't allow her. "Intentions don't mean everything."

"Yang, I…" She tried to take a step toward Yang but she turned to her side, head lowered again.

"Just… just leave me alone…" The anger she had built up was starting to dwindle, leaving behind exhaustion. The fire had burned out and now there was only ash.

"Yang-" She heard Ruby try once more to step toward her.

" _Please_!" Yang clutched her hand into a fist, teeth gritting before her voice softened again. "Just leave…" She was almost pleading now.

"..." After a moment of silence she heard footsteps followed by a door shutting closed.

Yang stood alone in the empty room. For how long she wasn't sure. She just stood there feeling the cold air press against her naked skin. She shut the shower door and turned the water on allowing the cold droplets to fall around her body. She didn't feel like taking a hot shower right now. And even if taking a shower was hard, even if it took twice as long if not more, the important thing was she did it on her own. Without any help. Without… Ruby. Without Taiyang. Without anyone.

She felt the soft fabrics of her bed press on her back side of her now dried body. Taking a shower, even if it was a cold one, should have made her feel a bit better from her week or so without one. But right now, saying she felt like shit was an understatement.

Before she even spoke...shouted at Ruby, she knew she shouldn't have. Every word that came out, that came out of her mouth, she knew she should have stopped. Ruby didn't mean to make Yang upset. Hell, Ruby didn't mean to make anyone upset. She just didn't know any better. She didn't know what she was saying and doing was hurting Yang. That it was lowering her self-esteem. Even so, even with Ruby being herself, she should have known better, she needed to learn. Like how Yang had the hard way.

Yang didn't want to think about it anymore. She didn't want to think of anything right now. She laid on her side, closing her eyes against the tears that threatened to break free. Maybe things would look better in the morning.

They wouldn't though, would they? But it was the only thing that kept going. The only thing that gave her what little energy she had.

* * *

Yang groaned half awake as she felt the bed shifting behind her. The blankets were pulled back, something soft and warm slipping in and pressing against her back. Before she could speak, she felt a small hand wrap around her waist and intertwined with her fingers. A face damp with moisture pressed at the back of her shirt.

She heard faint whispered words spoken behind her.

"I'm sorry"

Yang squeezed the hand in hers.

"I know…"

"I love you…"

Yang smiled.

"I love you too."

* * *

 **I wish you all a happy new year.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 1st February**


	4. Chapter 4

**Nice to know this story is slowly be surely increasing in popularity. Always happy about that. I would like to think it is somewhat unique in the sense that not many stories, at least none of the ones I have seen, really tackle Yang's struggle with her arm. There may be some one shots but nothing aside from that. I hope I can do it justice.**

 **Anyway, on with the story.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

The clash of steel on steel rang through the house, punctuated occasionally by the sound of a blade cutting into flesh. The sounds overlapped with one another until finally… a loud explosion brought the fight to a close.

"Ruby!" Taiyang scolded his youngest daughter. The girl smiled sheepishly and covered her mouth with one hand.

"Sorry!" she said.

Yang shook her head at her sister's loud burp. The dinner table had always been a battlefield of sorts and it only got worse when their uncle Qrow was around. Mostly, that was because of the smell but his manners were even worse than Ruby's. At least her sister had the excuse of being fifteen as opposed to forty or so.

"Could you pass the toast?" Yang asked. Her little sister seemed all too pleased to help, grabbing not only the toast but also a slab of butter too. Yang watched as Ruby spread it out over the toast without interjecting, before noticing her start to cut it into smaller pieces.

"Ruby…"

Ruby froze just short of cutting into the toast. She placed the unscathed food on Yang's plate with a sheepish smile. "Sorry…" Yang returned a soft smile of her own. Things weren't perfect but they were improving. Ruby still didn't know when enough was enough but she now listened to Yang for that, never pushing too far. Neither of them wanted a repeat of the unhappy events a few days earlier.

"So… you two alright now?" Taiyang asked with a motion of his fork. "I didn't want to ask but the village nearby complained about the shouting."

Yang shot him a dirty look. The nearest village was miles away. Her expression softened when Ruby flushed and started to make excuses.

"We're sisters." Yang said as if that was all the answer that was needed.

"Sisters and besties!" Ruby added. "I goofed up on some things but it's better now."

Taiyang chuckled. "That sounds about right. I remember back in Signal when you were the one putting your foot in your mouth and it was Yang who always dragged it out."

"Daaaaad!" Ruby whined with her flush back on her face.

Yang smiled as she watched the small argument between the two. In a way it was a relief to know that Ruby still needed her; that she could still be of use even in her current condition. Yang shook off the small frown that came onto her face at the thought. _Stop it._

Things had changed, Yang couldn't deny that, and it wasn't for the best. She couldn't do everything she once could but at least Ruby was letting her try. Sometimes Yang had to ask for Ruby's help. Sometimes she couldn't do everything on her own. It was a little easier to accept now that Ruby had given her some space. Only helping when she asked for it and only if Yang was certain she couldn't do it on her own.

Some things were beyond her. Tying her shoes was one thing. The thought of using her teeth seemed promising at first but ultimately proved fruitless. Their dad had promised to take them shopping after the winter for some boots that had straps on, along with some clothing she could use with one hand. Winter clothes would be a bit trickier, though, no matter what they bought.

It was all about adapting. About learning to live with her… with her condition.

And she was learning to live with it. To continue on with life. Her mood had been better since their argument. It had been a chance to let out steam, to get her grievances out into the open. As always, it was better to let it all out then bottle it up.

Both her and Taiyang's eyes met, sharing a smile over Ruby's continued fluster. It felt like forever since they last looked at one another like that. Her and Tai… they were ok. There were still some bumps but they were holding steady.

And it was all thanks to her little sister. Ruby was always a bit socially awkward. Always having difficulty starting a conversation with anyone new. She even admitted it a few times. When the conversation got rolling however, that's when Ruby could start to shine. She had this good natured, sweet way about it. That made you want to want to be her friend. For the rare people like… Weiss, it was a bit different. From what Ruby had told her, that good natured and sweet way did not go over very well, but once she saw how hard Ruby was trying to impress her, well, the rest was history.

Just like a lot of things in her past. Yang smiled through the bad memories as they teased Ruby a little more. Things were looking up. So long as she had them, so long as she had Ruby, she could make it through.

* * *

Yang never knew how enjoyable it could be to watch her little sister train. She watched through the window as Ruby did some basic stretches, necessary after being cooped up by Taiyang for so long. A smile plastered on her face as Zwei barked and ran around Ruby. Seeing Ruby start her training again did remind Yang about her inability, but honestly, it was hard not to think about it anyway. Especially with the constant reminder on her right side. Still, it brought just as much joy if not more so to see Ruby happy. Even after everything she had seen, Ruby was still Ruby. In a lot of ways that was comforting to Yang.

It also worried her.

After seeing all the destruction in Beacon, the deaths, the losses. Ruby was still so energetic. Yang didn't know how she did it. A part of Yang was afraid to find out and another part wanted to learn and apply it to herself.

Yang gripped her right arm, grimacing as the pain returned. _Stop thinking about it._

She forced a smile back on her face when she noticed Ruby was looking at her. She looked surprised for a moment and maybe a little worried from catching how distressed she looked before smiling and waving to her. Yang returned the gesture, smiling a bit more before walking outside to talk to Ruby.

"Hey." Yang greeted her little sister before sitting on the wooden logs stacked up against the house.

"Hi." Ruby waved her hand again before placing them both behind her back as she leaned back and forth against the front and heels of her feet. "Soooo, what's up?"

"Nothing much. Just wanted to see my baby sister show off her moves."

"Oh, um…" Ruby glanced to the side. "I was just stretching a bit. Wasn't even sure I was going to bother training today."

"Ruby…" Yang's flat tone made her little sister to look at her. "You can't not train in front of me forever." At least she better not. "Just do what you would normally do with me here."

Ruby was silent for a moment before nodding. "Right! Here we go!" She had never seen anyone so energetic in doing some basic stretches. She was a bit worried Ruby might pull something. "Stretching done! Now beginning combat!"

Yang chuckled. "Thanks for the heads up."

Ruby held her scythe out before swinging it this way in that in quick succession. Ruby always had been one for speed even before her semblance activated. She would run around hopped up on cookies and strawberries. That was particularly troublesome when it was time for her bath. She had to wash Ruby for most of their childhood since Summer's absence. Not that she didn't exactly enjoy it. Time with her sister was fun. She didn't think of it as a burden or responsibility. Well, it was sort of a responsibility but it wasn't like she did it because she had to. She also did it because she enjoyed all the time she spent with Ruby. Her smiles and giggles. Those small witty comments she occasionally made which were so obvious and pure. She enjoyed spending time with her sister and still did.

"Yang!" She smiled when her little sister called out her name. "You uh… wanna join me?"

Yang's smile faltered. "Nah. I'm okay. I… probably won't be able to do much."

"Sure you can!" Ruby quickly jumped forward with her hands squeezed in front of her. "Yang, you're still the same person as before. The same amount of strength. Passion. Aggression. You just… need time to find and channel them again. Don't…" She paused. "Don't you want to find the people who did all of this?"

"Why bother?" Yang appreciated what Ruby was trying to do, but she was done with fighting for a long while. Maybe forever.

"Because it will help you get better."

"I'm fine as I am." Yang sighed before taking a deep breath. Ruby was already starting to withdraw back and she didn't want to start another fight. "Look. I… I may get back into a bit of fighting one day." She was pretty sure that was a lie to both Ruby and herself. "But not for a while. Not for a long while."

"...Okay." Ruby replied after a short silence. "I understand."

"I'm glad." Slow but steadyish progress. "I think I'll go inside. Keep up the good work." If training was what made Ruby happy, then she should do it.

* * *

"So you guys are close by?"

Yang stumbled upon Ruby chatting on her scroll by accident. She hadn't planned to eavesdrop just outside her room. Her room. They use to have the same room but ever since Beacon, things had changed. She was usually glad to have Ruby nearby, especially nowadays, but she couldn't bring herself to sleep in the same room as her. To wake up screaming and have Ruby check on her with those worried, silver eyes.

So she was sleeping in the guest quarters which was why she felt a little rotten when she didn't announce herself to Ruby. She listened as her sister talked to whoever was on the other end of the scroll. It sounded like she was familiar with them. And since scrolls only worked regionally since the CCT had gone down, they had to be close by. Like, already on Patch, close by.

"Yea, that'll be great. It'll give us a chance to talk."

Ruby looked both happy and focused while on the scroll. It should have made Yang happy and it did, but it also made her worry. She just didn't know what was happening at the moment. That was all. She could be talking to some old friends that were coming to visit or had just gotten back from Patch. Not all of Ruby's friends were on Patch at the moment do to one reason or the other.

"Yea, I'll- Yang!" Ruby jumped up in place when Yang decided to reveal herself. "H-hey! How's it going?"

"..." Ruby really sucked at small talk. "Good. Who you talking to?"

"Just some friends." Ruby held the scroll back to her ear. "Yea, I gotta go. Yea. Alright. Bye!" She placed her hands before her back before smiling. "So... whats up?"

"Nothing. I was just passing by." She wanted to ask who specifically Ruby was talking to but if it was really important or if Ruby had wanted Yang to know, then she would have told her. So she wouldn't push the subject, not with how delicate things were. She trusted Ruby. If it was anything important or serious, she could handle it.

* * *

With the coming of the snow, everything changed. Red leaves gave way to barren branches, soil to mother nature's white blanket. But it wasn't just the seasons that changed.

"Helloooo!" Nora waved from a nearby tree. The others did the same but with a little less gusto.

"Jaune? Ren? Nora?" Why were they all here?

"Surprise! Are you surprised? I thought you would be surprised. Isn't it surprising?" Nora calmed down and halted her line of questions when Ren placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Our apologies if we came at an inconvenient time." Ren, ever the mellow member of the team, gave a small bow.

"We thought it would be a good time to visit." Jaune said. "See how you two were, catch up and maybe talk about plans for-"

"First things first!" Ruby jumped between her and the newly arrived group with her arms stretched up in the air. "Hot coco!"

"I want tiny marshmallows!" Nora shouted.

Well… it was winter.

"It'll just take a minute! I'll be right back!" Ruby was gone in a flash via semblance.

"..."

Well… this was awkward. That seemed to be happening a lot lately. Don't get her wrong, she was happy to see them all. After all, they were her and Ruby's friends. One of their first at Beacon. But their sudden appearance did leave Yang a little worried. Why were they here? Why show up now? Well, they were probably here to check up on Ruby… and her. As for why, they had probably visited their own family and friends before coming here. But didn't Ren and Nora not have parents? She remembered Nora mentioning that during her ramblings before the match at the Vytal Festival.

Yang cringed and tried to push the memory away. It was best not to think of those times.

"So… how's your arm?" Jaunce winced when Nora elbowed his side. "What?"

"It's alright." Normally Yang hated when people asked about her arm. She still did, but this was different. They had been through everything she had. She knew they weren't asking out of curiosity. They genuinely cared, and that gave her the confidence she needed to smile and answer them. "It hurts sometimes and I'm still getting used to living being a lefty." She wouldn't admit this all to Ruby but it was still difficult. With Ruby it was much easier but not without its challenges.

"What has it done for your mobility?" Ren asked.

"I'm not as sore anymore." Yang answered. Guess they were just worried.

"Can still punch a tree dead?" Nora asked with a bit more energy.

"I… haven't tried recently." To punch a tree that was. She hadn't bothered with any training. She had limited herself to mostly moving logs around for the fire.

"So how long will it take?" Jaune asked.

"How long will what take?" Yang didn't understand.

"To get back into fighting condition."

"I don't know…" She had heard what the doctor had to say about it. "It could be months. A year, maybe two. I'd have to learn to fight with one arm." If it was even worth pursuing.

"But we don't have that long!" Jaune stepped with his hand out.

"Why not? Don't have that long for what?" Yang didn't like where this was going.

"To go to Mistral."

"What?" Yang felt her voice carry some anger in it. Her hand clenched into a fist.

"You…" Jaune's frustration was replaced with hesitation and a bit of fear. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" Yang thought for a moment before her eyes widened. "No."

"Yang-"

"I said no!" Her eyes turned red. "That's why you're here, isn't it? To convince me to go with you? To convince Ruby to go!"

The group looked ashamed as none of them could quite meet her gaze.

"How could you even suggest such a thing?" Hadn't she been through enough? Hadn't Ruby?

"Yang, it wasn't our-" Jaune tried.

"I don't want to hear it!" Yang wouldn't even entertain the idea of an argument. That implied that one side might win over the other. There would be no room for discussion. She felt the ends of her hair start to float at the sheer wave of heat she was putting off. The snow around her slowly skipping from water straight to steam. "You come here to my home, all friendly and nice, waiting for Ruby to bring you hot chocolate when in the back of your heads, you're just waiting for an opportunity to trick Ruby into going with you!"

"Yang-"

Red eyes glared at the quiet member of the incomplete team. The glare had Ren holding off on whatever it was he was about to say. He took a half step behind Nora out of fear of being attacked. She might very well do just that. "Read. My. Lips. I am not going with you and neither is-" Yang choked on her words when she felt a throbbing pain in her arm. She keeled over onto the evaporating snow, clutching her stump.

 _Shit._ Not this again. Yang pressed her head against the now clear grass floor as she tried to at least keep herself on her knees. _Take deep breaths. Relax. Relax._ It was hard to. Knowing that what she had thought were her and Ruby's friends were trying to use them. To satisfy their own sick and twisted desires. Hadn't they suffered enough?

She gasped as the pain just seemed to get worse. Nails digging into her arms in an attempt to distract the pain with a different kind. It felt like the bones in her arm were being drilled and melting at the same time. The rest of her body hurt as well but the brunt of it was in her arm.

"Yang!" She barely registered Ruby's presence as she knelt down beside her, hands trying to touch Yang through the heat. "What happened?"

"She got mad about Mistral and-"

"You told her?!" Ruby gasped. " _Jaune_!"

"We thought she knew!"

Yang's screaming cut through the two as she fell on her left shoulder, barely able to keep herself from falling on her side. The snow around her all but evaporated with the grass scorched to the dirt. She felt tears forming at the edge of her eyes.

The way Ruby had reacted, she knew? She had planned to go with them all along? Gha! It hurt too much to think properly.

"Yang, let's get you inside." Yang felt her sister's hands try and wrap around her, she heard her sister whimper at the heat before forcing herself through the pain and getting her to lean on Ruby as she took her inside. "L-Let's try the sofa. It probably won't burn. Maybe…"

"R-Ruby…" Yang gasped as she was lied down against the sofa.

"Just take it easy." Ruby tried to ease. "Dad will be home soon. I'll get you some ice-"

"Ruby!" Yang clutched Ruby's arm, the pain through her body making her squeeze harder than she meant to, which made Ruby wince. "P-Promise me…"

"I promise, I'll be right back." Ruby placed her free hand over Yang's, ignoring the urge to pull back from the heat.

"P-Promise me… y-you'll stay."

"Yang. I just said-"

"No… N-not that." Yang pulled her sister closer. "P-promise me…" Yang gritted her teeth as she forced herself to speak as clear as she could. "Promise me… you'll stay with me… at the house." She took a deep breath. "Promise me… you won't leave me. T-that you won't go with… with them." Promise her right here and now. That she wouldn't go on some dangerous journey with Jaune and the others. That she wouldn't leave her and Tai. That she would stay in this house with them. With her. She wanted Ruby to promise her all of that.

"Yang-"

Yang's grip grew tighter as Ruby was brought right up against her painfully mixed expression. "Promise me… please…" She didn't want to beg but if it would keep her baby sister here, then she would. She would beg. Right now pride was not on the top of her lists of needs. At the very top was Ruby. She was all that mattered. The most important thing in her life.

Ruby gazed at Yang for what seemed like forever before her hands came up to Yang's. One hand moving over her tight grip while the other cupped Yang's cheek. Her face softened as if giving in before nodding. "Alright Yang. I promise. I won't go…" She leaned in, pressing her forehead to Yang's as the heat slowly started to go down. "I'm right here."

Her grip on Ruby's arm loosened before it moved around the younger girl's back and brought her in for a hug. She pressed her face to Ruby's neck, the pain that had overtaken her fading at last.

Yang held onto Ruby for several minutes before she hesitantly released the smaller girl from her grasp. Her younger sister slowly leaned back into a standing position but still stood close to her. "I'll go tell Jaun and the other's to come back later. I'll be right back, okay?"

Yang gasped for a bit of air before nodding. "Okay…"

Ruby stared at her for a few moments as if to make sure Yang understood, taking a step back and then another before heading out toward the door. She paused at the arch way, looking back one final time. Yang watched her sister look right back at her, slight frown on her face, teeth biting on her lower lip. She exited a second later.

* * *

By the next morning, the pain she had felt from the other day had faded. There was still a faint soreness but she was used to that by now. She heard some shuffling nearby, some cabinets opening and plates clattering before noticing it was coming from the kitchen. Ruby.

Yang saw her sister getting breakfast ready as she entered the kitchen. At least, her attempt at making breakfast. To anyone else, if would look like a circus act. Her little sister going from one place then the next, with a little help from her semblance, uncertain of which she should have started with first which ended up with her trying to do everything at the same time. She got some plates out, then she noticed she hadn't put anything on the pan, then she tried to get some stuff out of the kitchen and so forth.

For a moment she thought that Ruby might have been preparing breakfast for team JNPR, but the lack of plates confirmed it was just for them plus Tai. She should probably apologise for how she acted. They were probably still distraught over the loss of their team mate. Yang still felt like she did what she had to in order to keep her sister from harm's way but if they were going to be hanging around with Ruby, causing an argument wasn't going to help. She didn't want to force Ruby to choose between her and them. They were her friends too… If they still wanted to be friends with a cripple.

Hunters and civilians didn't really mix.

Yang's thoughts were interrupted when Ruby fell off the counter, a box of cereal flying into the air, flakes scattering about the room. The small girl laid in the middle of them, groaning loudly as the cereal rained down on her.

Yang couldn't help letting a snicker out, which gained the flake covered girl's attention. "Even with one arm, I'm still a better cook then you."

"It's hard!" Cereal girl argued.

"It's cereal." Not that hard.

"Not just cereal!" Ruby tried to make clear as if it would justify her fall more. "I was going to make scrambled eggs with bacon, that little half cut fruit like they show in the commercials. The whole thing!"

"The fact that you don't even know what that fruits called doesn't help your case."

"Well do _you_ know?"

"Grapefruit."

"I knew that…" Ruby lied. "I was just testing you."

"Ahuh…" Yang's smirk continued on as she offered a hand to help her little sister up. Ruby paused for a moment before taking the hand. "So, what's the occasion?" Ruby used to try and cook when she was younger, the results not much better. If anything, she had improved. Nothing was burned. Yet.

"I…" Ruby's face scrunched when Yang helped brush off the remaining flakes on her hair. "I wanted to make breakfast… as an apology…" The little girl's hands were behind her back as she kicked around a few flakes.

Yang's face immediately softened before bringing Ruby into her embrace.. "Ruby… it's fine. What's done is done. You're here and that's all that matters." She felt Ruby's hands raise up her sides before slowly wrapping around her. "So try not to burn the house down, alright?"

Ruby nodded into her neck, some wet drops brushing against Yang's skin. "Okay…"

"But seriously, don't burn down the house." Yang pointed to the pan that was burning whatever it was Ruby was trying to cook.

"My eggs!" Ruby was panicking as she ran around with a burning pan in hand before finally deciding to abandon the project and throw it in the sink where the water doused the flames. "I mixed it in a bowl and everything…"

Yang patted the distraught looking Ruby's head as if to console her. If Ruby was born part faunus, she would be the cutest little whimpering puppy right now.

"Let's just go with cereal." You couldn't burn cereal. She hoped.

"I'll make toast!"

"No!" Just cereal.

Ruby slumped at the lack of faith before nodding. They sat across from one another on the table, flakes still decorated the floor as they poured themselves new bowls. They could clean it up later. Or Zwei could have it… whoever got there first.

"So… how are the others doing?" Yang asked. "I didn't mean to scare them with…"

"They're fine." Ruby assured. "They feel just as guilty which is why they're camping outside."

"They don't have to do that." Now Yang felt even worse. "I mean, I doubt dad would mind the company."

Ruby gave a soft smile before shaking her head. "I-It's fine. They'll only be staying for the day."

"Then off to Mistral?" Yang guessed.

Ruby nodded. "Yea… off to Mistral…"

"We can give them supplies to help ease the trip." Yang suggested.

"Yea…"

"Ruby…" Yang's hand rested over her sisters. "They'll be fine. Nora's Nora. Ren's good at tracking and being sneaky and Jaune… well there's Nora."

"Jaune's improved a lot." Ruby defended her friend.

He had but he still wasn't as good as Pyrrha… and Pyrrha hadn't been good enough to stop Cinder. Yang didn't want her little sister to be put in that same situation. She didn't want Ruby to… to…

"Yang…" Yang's eyes looked up to see Ruby's face wincing. "You're gripping a bit tight…" Yang immediately pulled her arm back, her sister rubbing her sore wrist.

"Sorry…" Yang's hand tightened into a fist. She hurt her sister. Ruby should never have to feel any pain, ever again. Especially from her.

"It's fine." Ruby's hand touched hers. "Don't be afraid to touch me."

"..." Yang nodded, thumb rubbing her sister's palm as she lost herself in the small appendage.

"Yang…" Ruby's other hand went over hers. "You… You're going to get treatment… right?"

"Hm?" Yang raised her head.

"You're going to be okay… right? You're going to get stronger? Better?"

"Of course." Yang offered her best smile, though it didn't do too much to assure Ruby. "Why do you ask?"

"I… I just want to make sure you're going to be safe... I worry."

"I'll be fine, Ruby." Yang gave her sister's hand a light squeeze. "I have you with me." Yang didn't see why her sister frowned at that, though it was quickly replaced with a smile. A small smile, but it was there.

"Yea…" Ruby glanced to the side, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Hey…" Yang tugged on Ruby's arm, getting her sister's attention. "You alright?" It was probably just the topic bringing back bad thoughts, but she still worried about Ruby.

"I'm fine!" Ruby held her sister's hand up. "I'm just glad you'll be okay…"

Ruby wasn't fine, Yang could tell that from the look on her face. It reminded her of Summer's. Like the day she left and never came back. Maybe it was just worry about Jaune and his team. Maybe it was just Ruby still adjusting to everything. It could have been a lot of things.

But it wasn't.

Yang hadn't understood Ruby's expression at the time. Maybe if she had, she could have done something about it... said something or done something different. Instead, she smiled and patted the small girl on the head, trusting that it would all be okay.

The next day, she understood what that expression had meant.

The next day…

Ruby was gone.

* * *

 **And exits Ruby.**

 **Yep. We're just about over and done with Volume 3 and now move on to the free game of the things we never got to see such as rehabilitation. Well, that's not entirely accurate. Given what we have seen of Volume 4 and what was mentioned by my teacher and mentor, Coeur Al'Aran, this will be AU.**

 **So keep that in mind. AU in terms of what happens from here on out… AU. I'm reminding you. Will of course, as Coeur Al'Aran has often done in his stories, try to make things flow well and in a way where the stories and plot makes sense but I will of course have to improvise in certain points and take the story different than how Volume 4 has taken it.**

 **As always, look forward to the likes and follows. Especially the comments.**

 **Also, in loving memory of Monty Oum. Thanks for this wonderful series and everything else you have done. I hope this show goes the way you had envisioned.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 1st March**


	5. Chapter 5

***Raises the gates. Mans the walls. Readies the alligator moats***

 **Hello! (Greets from safety of fortress) Don't mind me. Just a precaution I am taking and will continue to take for the foreseeable future. I'm going to see how this chapter is received and see how it goes from there. You'll see my logic as you read along.**

 **Submission is late by a day but hey, it's the shortest month of the year and was a bit busy so I couldn't look over one last time till later.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 5**

* * *

Weiss, Blake and now Ruby…

It didn't seem possible...

Weiss and Blake leaving had been impossible too, hadn't it? Yang had been so sure that even after they'd graduated, they would still be together as a team. Those days were long gone, Yang had… accepted that. Accepted that she pushed Weiss away, that Blake had run off and abandoned her.

She was willing to go on with that knowledge, as much as it hurt. But now…

It was too much. Ruby, her baby sister, the most precious thing left in Yang's life?

It didn't seem possible.

"Yang!" Her dad barged through the door. "Yang, did Ruby say anything to you?" To her? "Did she mention anything, anywhere she might be going? Any indication at all?"

Had she…?

Mistral…

"It's my fault…"

She should have seen the signs. The hints. The clues. Ruby had been training, getting stronger and learning how to fight again. Was that why she had been so nervous to practice in front of her, because she'd been afraid Yang would realize what was going on? And the team. They had come over wanting to recruit her and Ruby, but they had only left with Ruby.

" _Don't you want to find the people who did all of this?"_ Yang recalled their conversation; Ruby's question, and her response.

" _Why bother?"_

Was that when Ruby stopped asking her to come with them?

" _You told her?! Jaune!"_

That was when Ruby had given up. Those words made it clear Yang hadn't been invited, that Ruby alone had decided her sister would not be coming with them on their journey.

"It's all my fault…"

Yang felt her father's hands grasp her shoulders, his forehead touching hers. "It's not your fault." But it was. "You couldn't have known." Yes, she could have. She had just been too wrapped up in her own problems to notice. "I'm going to go look for Ruby." Yang felt him kiss her forehead. "Stay in bed. I'll find her."

He wouldn't. She knew. How much of a head start did Ruby have? Hours? Half a day? Did she leave while they were all sleeping? If they had been living in the same room, maybe Yang could have heard her sneak out in the night. She could have shouted for Tai to stop her or at least gone with her. But she had decided against it. _All to make myself feel better… to wallow in my self pity._

"There's food in the fridge if you get hungry. If anyone knocks on the door, ignore them." Yang didn't respond once in her dad's rant. She was too focused on her own thoughts, on her own failures, her own missed chances.

She heard her door slam shut, the front door a moment later. Tai was gone. Off on a futile attempt to find his daughter. He'd be back in a few hours. He'd probably go out searching till dark. Maybe come back a little earlier because Yang was waiting, because he would worry about her, thinking she couldn't do anything. And he was right to think that, wasn't he?

How many obvious signs had there been that she overlooked?

There was the training. Ruby had been stretching and getting back in shape. The scroll call to her friends coming to Patch. Those friends had clearly been Jaune, Nora and Ren.

Then there were the questions. Ruby asked all about her. If she was alright given her condition, if she would get help. If she would get better.

Looking back, she wished she could have given different answers. Whatever Ruby wanted to hear - whatever needed to be said. Whatever would have kept them together. Whether Ruby stayed or Yang went with her. Even if she couldn't fight like the others, she would at least be with Ruby. Could have taken care of her emotionally if not physically.

 _Come back Ruby, please… I'll come with you - I'll train, I'll get stronger. I'll do whatever it is you wanted me to do. Just give me another chance…_

But she wouldn't. There were no second chances. That had been made abundantly clear to her. There hadn't been with Summer.

Now there were none with Ruby.

She had failed… again.

And all because of her stupid self pity. Because she had been too focused on her own problems to not notice her sister's, even when she was practically saying it right to her face!

It was all her fault. Yang looked to her palm before clenching it into a fist, teeth bared as her gums tightened and ignored any pain that arose. She wanted to beat something up. She wanted to fight. To let loose. To do...something. Her body lost its rage as soon as it came when she thought about Ruby. Her smile, her laugh, everything about Ruby she would never see again.

"Come back…" Yang's palm pressed over her left eye. Tears trickling down her face. "Please…" Even if she couldn't convince Ruby to stay, at the very least, take her too. Just...

Come back…

* * *

It was no surprise to Yang when her father came back empty handed. She knew he wouldn't find Ruby but something in her broke all the same as it was made one hundred percent clear.

She fell apart.

Three days passed and Yang's fragile condition grew worse without Ruby's presence. She ate just enough to keep the pain away, spoke to Tai only when it was absolutely necessary, and she hadn't the energy to bathe since she learned of Ruby's absence. It had gotten to the point where Yang didn't even look up when her father came in with a plate of snacks and sweet meats anymore.

She all but ignored any friends that came to see how she was, telling Tai that she didn't want to see them and ignoring the ones that came in anyway. She didn't care what they thought of her. They already looked down on her. What did it matter if she added to it?

She didn't care about her so-called friends or their concerns. She didn't care that her father was fretting over her. The only thing she cared about right now was Ruby. She wanted to see her. To be with her. To protect and console her… so maybe Ruby could comfort her in turn.

"Yang…" She didn't even look up when her dad came in, nor when he heard a chair pulled up beside her bed. She didn't see the point in responding. "Yang, we need to talk."

She continued to stare at the sheets over her legs, still and unresponsive. Normally, when she refused to acknowledge him, he would leave her alone... maybe attempt a few sweet words of comfort or assurance before leaving. This time, however, was different. A good minute or so passed with neither of them saying anything. She could still feel him sitting there, staring at the side of her head. It was starting to get on her nerves.

"What do you want?"

"What I want, is for my baby girl to stop wasting away in front of me."

"I'm fine." Yang could hear the slight growl in her voice.

"Yang, you've lost weight."

"I haven't been weighed." Yang responded.

"It's apparent." her father rebutted. "You don't need to be weighed."

"It's my body."

"And your hair." Yang flinched when her dad reached for a lock of her hair and giving it a light tug. "It's in knots."

"So what?"

"The Yang i know would never even consider letting her hair fall anywhere near this state."

"Well maybe that Yang is dead."

"She's not." Yang felt her father's rough hands grab her shoulders and force her to look into his eyes. They were angry, but also filled with some other emotion. Grief? Sadness? Concern? She couldn't tell. "She's sitting right in front of me, slowly being suffocated by her own mind and she doesn't even realise or care."

Yang tried to pull away but this time her father wasn't having it.

"I know what it's like to lose everything." he continued. "I know what it's like to be at rock bottom with no hope in sight. It's not a good place and I don't want to see you go through the same thing."

Yang gave a weak attempt to pull away again but the result was the same as the last. What could he possibly know about-

"When your mother left…" Yang froze at the words. "I felt like this. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and try to forget the pain - to believe none of it happened." Yang didn't say anything. Her dad almost never mentioned her mom before. Part of her was listening out of pure curiosity. "I went over the scenarios over and over again in my head. Did I do something wrong? Were there signs of it coming? Could I have changed it if there had been?"

Yang's head perked up, listening to his words despite her reluctance. Her father looked off into the middle distance, as though seeing something no one else could. It was like he was lost in his own thoughts. Even so… those things he described… she asked those same questions.

"What… what did you do?" Yang whispered.

"I learned to rely on others." he said, smiling down on her. "Summer and your uncle Qrow helped me get back on my feet. They wouldn't let me stay sulking in bed. They wouldn't allow me to waste away and just give up on life. I resisted at first. I shouted with so much rage and flailed around like a little kid, but they never gave up on me. They took it all and made me see the world that was always before me. Encouraged me to look at my surroundings. To see my daughter." Tai cupped Yang's face, thumb rubbing her cheek with a warm smile. "It hurt, it hurt more than any wound, but with their help, I learned to live again. You can too."

Yang felt a tear run down her cheek brushing against her father's finger. "I… I can't," she whispered, "I don't have any teammates… I don't have any friends." Yang tried to smile, but it came out bitter. Dead. "There's no Summer or Qrow for me," she whispered, "They all left me. I'm alone."

"Y-Yang…" Her father realised his mistake, eyes going wide before he leaned in to try and console her further. "You're not alone. I-I'm here. You have other friends who-"

Yang leaned away from her father's touch, shaking her head. "They're not my friends anymore… I-I don't think they ever were." Not true friends like she had… like she'd thought she had. Before those had left too… were they not true friends either? The thought haunted her, burrowed beneath her skin and twisted thoughts and memories into painful barbs.

"Yang…"

"Leave me alone…"

"Yang, please…" His hand rested on her shoulder once more. "You can make new friends. You can-"

"LEAVE!" Yang snapped back at her father, eyes red with fury as her body gave out a dark glow. "This isn't the same! I don't have a team to look after me! I don't have friends! Some of us don't get second chances!"

Her father froze there for a moment, seeming to be thinking on what to say but the words coming just short of his mouth. He retracted his hand before standing up and heading toward the door. "I…" He paused at the door. "I know things are tough, sweetie. I know things seem hopeless and you feel alone, but I want you to know that I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you…"

Weiss had said the same. She promised she wouldn't leave, no matter what.

She'd seen how that ended. She didn't want to experience it again.

"Leave me alone…" Like everyone else had.

And with a sigh, he did.

* * *

Her father didn't bother her for the rest of the day and she was glad for it. For a while she wondered if he had given up. It wasn't till the next morning the door opened. Yang's eyes were kept on the sheets, refusing to acknowledge his existence. She heard footsteps walk further into the room. Normally he'd have given up by now, driven away by her silence. It wasn't until he spoke that she understood.

"You smell terrible."

The voice was a little deeper, bored and disinterested. It wasn't her father, and when she realised who it was, she sighed. "What are you doing here?" Her eyes remained on her sheets. Before, Taiyang had sought to cheer her up by inviting her friends over. Why he'd thought to invite one of Ruby's, however, Yang had no idea.

"I was asked to check up on you." he said, "If you could pretend to recover, I can leave."

"Why would dad ask _you_ of all people to look after me? You're Ruby's friend. Not mine." He'd never been hers, and never would be. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way… always had. Ruby had a habit for picking up the strangest of people, however, case in point for her friendship of both Weiss and Jaune.

"Did I say it was your father who asked me?"

For the first time, Yang raised her head. Ruby…? Lilac eyes locked onto yellow. The color was a painful reminder of a partner she had lost. The animal ears atop his head didn't help either.

"Not so dead after all." the man said. "I suppose that's my goal accomplished. Goodbye."

"Wait!" Yang's call halted his departure. "Do you… do you know where Ruby is?"

"Mistral." He shrugged. "Or the general area."

"You don't know where?"

"I don't think Ruby knows where either. She's running on rumors."

A growl slipped out of her and she clutched her arm as she fought to stay calm. "Take me to her. I need to speak to her."

"No."

"Why not?" Damn him.

He shrugged. "I can't. I don't know her location and even if I did, you'd collapse before you made it out the door."

"I'll manage."

"Poorly..."

"Damn it, Mauve!" Yang slammed her hand on the bedside table, rattling the plate there. "Just take me to her!"

"I refuse. Also, that's not my name."

Like she cared! Yang gritted her teeth, eyes flashing red before she winced in pain. "You should at least be with her! You're her friend, aren't you?" For reasons she couldn't understand, but still...

"I guess." The faunus shrugged casually. It pissed Yang off even more. "She didn't seem to want anyone else to join her…"

"So what?!" Yang straightened herself on the bed. "You should have insisted! You should have seen ahead of time and made it obvious you wanted to go!"

"But I didn't want to go."

Yang cursed. Of course he didn't. She was talking about herself… projecting herself into his place. With a frown she flopped back down on the bed and turned away from him. "Just go away."

"Can't."

"Why not?!" This shouldn't be hard for him. If anything, this should be the easiest thing for him to do.

"Have to watch over you for the time being." Yang felt a flare of irritation. "At least until you're out of this mood."

Mood? Mood?! She'd lost her school, her team, her best friend - even her sister! And he called what she was going through a _mood_? She sat back up and glared as he walked closer. Even with him standing and her in bed, his ears barely peeked above her head. He'd always been a stupid midget. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Sitting." He took up the chair beside the table and did just that. "I don't want to keep standing."

She felt a strong urge to kick the chair over and send him sprawling on his ass. Wouldn't be a far fall. "Well sit elsewhere. Like in another room, building or preferably another island."

He raised an eyebrow. "I've lived here for a while. Don't see a reason to leave."

She could give him a reason. Instead she turned over, her back to him as she tried to fall asleep and forget this entire conversation and him as well. Before she could fall asleep however, she felt a finger point into her back. "What…" she ended up turning back to him, "are you doing?"

"Checking if you're alive."

"I'm breathing dumbass. Of course I'm alive." She was just trying to sleep, damn it.

"Technically." Yang raised a brow at him. "Technically alive. Survive and living, two different things. And then there are the eyes…"

Her eyes? Were they flaring up red again? She could certainly believe that.

"Hm… nothing." He crossed his legs beneath himself, almost kneeling atop the chair. "Can you at least bathe?"

"Excuse me?"

"If I'm going to be here a while, I'd prefer if the room didn't smell."

He was _so_ asking for it. "It's my body. I'll do what I damn want with it."

His eyes flicked to her arm. "Because you've done such a good job with it so far."

That crossed the line.

"Fuck you." she snarled, hair flickering slightly. "This happened because I was defending a friend. Because I was saving her life." She grunted glancing away. "Not that you would know anything about that."

"Probably not." So fucking calm. "Where are they?"

"Who?"

"This friend you felt was worth an arm. Tell me where they are so I can find them. They can look after you instead of me."

Yang's breath caught in her throat. Her eyes clenched shut as her shoulders rose and fell. _Stop asking,_ she begged inside her mind, _leave me alone._

"Did they leave with Ruby?" he asked, unheeding of her anguish.

"No…"

"They had to go back home?"

"...I don't know." Yang clenched her eyes shut. "She didn't tell me."

"She left you?"

Yang refused to answer.

"Some friend."

Yang's eyes snapped open, bright red as she was face to face with the faunus in an instant. Hand clutching his shirt as she dragged him close, his purple-tipped hair brushing against her face. "Mauve, I fucking swear…"

"Not my name."

Not the fucking point!

Her hand gripped his shirt tighter. "Don't insult Blake. Don't you dare even think about it. Don't even _say_ her name."

"I thought you didn't like her." Yang just growled. "She left after you gave up an arm for her, yet you still defend her?"

"You weren't there!" She didn't know why that mattered. She was there and she still didn't understand. Blake always had a reason for what she did. She may not always think everything through but she had her reasons, damn it! She fought that masked man for a reason! She left for a reason! What those reasons were, Yang didn't know.

But she did have a reason, she had to.

Because if she didn't…

No. Yang refused to believe that Blake just up and left with no reason in mind. That all their time together, all their battles, all the laughter, all the jokes… They couldn't have meant nothing to Blake… right?

"Could you let go of me?" She was snapped out of her thoughts when the bastard finally spoke up. "Because you really do smell."

Yang grunted before pushing him back into his seat. "So long as you don't insult Blake…" If he had to stay, at least don't mention her. He could not speak at all. That would be even better.

"Ahuh…" He brushed his shirt off. "So, about that shower." Not this again. "Maybe it would help. Make you feel better. Would certainly make _me_ feel better."

Well that was all the encouragement she needed, wasn't it? "Sure, I'll get right on it. After you leave."

He sighed, possibly the first real sign of irritation from him. "A no then. Well, at least get out of bed and go outside. It would smell less. They say the fresh air is good for the soul...or something."

"It's snowing."

"Picky."

"Screw you, Mauve."

"Not my name…" His ears twitched as he rubbed his forehead. "Maybe downstairs? You've got to be hungry. Would also let the smell air out."

"I already ate." Well she didn't but he didn't need to know that.

"I can tell." he said sarcastically. "Because you're so clearly full of energy."

Yang turned back over and pulled the sheet over her head. If he wouldn't go away, then she'd ignore him till he did. She didn't want to speak to her father. She didn't want to speak to her friends.

She just wanted her team back. She just wanted Ruby back.

For a good minute or so, there was no noise till he finally sighed. "So what?" She could hear him climb out of his chair, his voice filled with scorn. "You're just going to lie in your bed wasting away like some living corpse pretending to be alive?"

Yang just gripped her sheets tighter.

"All because some stupid, ungrateful, girl abandoned you?"

Her fist smashed into his face. He flipped back over the chair, not prepared for the blow at all as Yang shot to her feet. "I warned you!" she shouted. "I fucking warned you!"

"Ow…" He rubbed his bruised cheek for a moment. "That… actually hurt." He sounded surprised.

"Fucking glad to hear it!" Damn did that feel good. "You don't get to come in here and insult my team! Not when you don't know anything about them!" She raised her fist threateningly. "Get it?"

"Duly noted…"

"You better!" She took several deep breaths, body heating up, yet this time, there was no pain.

"So… do you feel better?" he asked. "You look more alive now than you did a minute ago."

Yang looked to her shaking fist. She did feel better, in some strange way. Fighting had always been her catharsis. Even as she was angry now, so angry that her vision almost turned red, she still felt more energetic than she had for weeks. She glanced down at him, laying on the ground with a bruised cheek. "Did… did you do this on purpose? Make me angry so I'd feel better?" Was he… being nice?

"Did I make you punch me on purpose?" She nodded. "No. I just really wanted you to stop moping. Granted this seems to have worked, but I'd have preferred a less violent reaction."

Okay, so not him being nice. Yang looked to Mauve then her fist. She and him had sparred before in the past. She always lost yet she knocked him on his ass just now. That was something she had trouble doing back when she had both arms. Granted she surprised him, but still...

Her body vibrated with energy, a thrill rushing through her. Her fist clenched and unclenched… she could feel the power behind it. Her chest rose and fell and for the first time in weeks, it wasn't because she was hyperventilating or gasping for air from a nightmare.

It was because she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time.

Adrenaline, satisfaction… determination.

Ruby was gone, yes, but only in the sense of distance between them. She was trapped in bed only because she thought she was, but if she could deck Mauve like that, then she could fight too. She could find Ruby. She could fix this.

"Get up." She motioned to Mauve with her head before marching down the stairs. She felt alive again. She felt lighter, stronger, more aware, if only a bit, but that was enough. It was was all that she needed to get back on her feet. First things first, she needed a plan… a goal. Ruby, that was what had to be fixed. For that she needed energy, energy for her broken and battered body.

"Yang? What-" Her dad look puzzled by her sudden appearance. That she had actually gotten out of bed and come downstairs. She couldn't blame him. She had been acting a lot like a shut in for the past three days.

"Food!" Her father jumped back at her proclamation before she rushed into the kitchen and grabbed whatever edible products she could. Some cold meat and bread. She also had a small cartridge of orange juice beside her. Screw the cups.

"What's going on?" She saw her father looking to Mauve who came down the stairs.

"I think she's hungry…"

"She's hungry?" Her dad looked at her for a moment as she ate away at the food. "She's hungry… She's Hungry!" She heard Mauve's protest at the hug he suddenly got along with the attempts to get away from it. "My daughters hungry! And she's eating!"

"Let go now, please…" Mauve pleaded.

"You did it! She's eating! My baby girl is eating! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Yang rolled her eyes as her father picked the small faunus up, crushing him to his chest before spinning him around the room. "You're a friend of the family now and forever!"

"Then show it by releasing me, please."

Oh brother…

"Ah! You need something warm to eat!" Her dad dropped Mauve and went to the oven, taking out a pan along with some bacon and eggs. "Just give me a few minutes! I'll have something whipped up in no time!"

Yang just gave a mumbled noise of approval as she ate what she already had. Warm food might be nice. It was still ash in her mouth, but it would give her more energy. She needed as much as she could get if she was to go find Ruby.

"Got any grapes?" Mauve asked.

"For you? I'll go buy some!" Her dad just wouldn't stop smiling. It was sort of unnerving. "Thank you, Fenrir!"

"The hell is Fenrir?" Yang smirked through her chewing when she saw Mauve's ear twitch in annoyance. He fixed a glare onto her, not that it did anything other than make her mood even better.

"Me…" He called out. "That's my name…" He looked so frustrated for some reason. "So may I have those grapes now, please?"

"Ah! Right! One minute." Her dad took the time to cook her some food. Bacon and eggs if she smelled correctly. He served up the food with a wide smile on his face. "Go on." Seemed like he wasn't going to go till she took a bite.

Yang sighed but did so anyway. With some effort, she cut a piece of bacon and ate it. Some bread followed up after. She swore her dad squealed a bit.

"I'll be back in a few minutes!" He got his coat and snow boots on. "I'll go get you those grapes and some more food to cook later!" Well, that didn't sound bad. "Help yourself to anything else!"

The minutes passed after her dad had left and the sound of her eating was the only noise.

"Got any jam?" Mauve finally asked from the border of the living room.

"In the fridge." Yang said distractedly, eyes flicking through the cupboards as she considered what to take with her. She'd need food that lasted, but not anything that couldn't be cooked with one hand. Money? Her dad probably had some lien lying around. He wouldn't mind if she took it.

"In the fridge…" He seemed a bit disappointed for some reason but retrieved the jam nonetheless along with some bread before spraying some on it. "Ruby used to keep the jam out of the fridge…"

"Why?" Yang felt the urge to ask.

"Tastes better that way."

"Warm jam?" Yang glanced around the kitchen, looking under the sink and taking out a rucksack. Dad always kept his camping gear close to hand like that.

"Frozen jam isn't as sweet."

"Ahuh… could always stick it in the microwave and heat it up." She got a few travel friendly packets of food, some canned beans, travel rations and the like. May not taste that good but nothing really did anymore. They all found their home in the bag's confines.

"Yea… I could if I wanted to burn your house down. Who microwaves jam? Besides, it would just get soggy."

"Guess so." Yang slammed the bag down onto the table, shutting all the pockets and straps.

Mauve glanced up to her, eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?"

"Going camping." Yang scoffed. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a bit cold outside for camping."

"I'm a tough girl." She could handle it.

"Was." Yang shot Mauve a glare. "Not so much right now."

"Tough enough to deck you in the face." Yang grunted.

"Glad you think so highly of me."

"Words cannot express." Yang pulled the rucksack over her shoulder before turning for the door. "Well, see ya. I'd say it's been fun but I'd rather not lie."

Her progress was stopped towards the door, the midget standing in her way, still eating jam.

"Move." He just took another bite of his bread. "I'll smack you in the schnoz again."

"Punch." He muttered through his eating. "It was a punch and I was caught off guard."

"That the excuse you wanna use?" She'd be happy to test that theory. Her eyes narrowed, aggravation building up. "I'll ask one more time, move." He was standing in her way. In her way of finding Ruby. No one would stand in her way.

"Pretty cold even by the door." Mauve said. "It's only colder outside."

"I'll manage." She was a walking furnes.

"You won't."

"I will."

"You'll die."

"What do you even care?" He should be the last person stopping her.

"Made a promise."

Yang growled at the reminder. "Well break it."

"Don't feel like it."

Yang's fist clenched.

"You need time." Mauve said. "Time to recover, regain your strength, and so forth. That one meal isn't going to make up for all the ones you've missed."

Yang knew he was right. She knew she wasn't as strong as she use to be. Not even close. But even so, waiting any longer would be too dangerous. If Ruby ran into Cinder, it would just be another repeat of Pyrrha. And that was something she could not allow.

She struck suddenly. She winced when she hit the door as Mauve ducked beneath her fist. She swung around with one leg but he caught it, pushing her off balance as she tried to steady herself against the door. She yelped when he pulled on her leg and made her fall forward. Lungs heaving, she got back up and rushed at him with another punch to the face, followed by a kick. He dodged each blow with ease, never striking back but rather putting distance between them which she tried to close.

"You're tired, sloppy, out of practice."

"Shut up!" Her fist slammed into the wall, knuckles cracking. She rushed at him again, this time he took a half step to the side before tripping her. She crashed against the wall before sliding down.

"And cranky."

Yang seethed as her chest rose and fell. Body shaking as she steadied herself back up against the wall. What was wrong with her? She could have kept up this pace for hours. Even if she never beat him before, she did a hell of a lot better than this.

"How are you still so strong?" Yang growled. "You didn't go to Beacon or any combat school! You stayed here in Patch. How am I still weaker than you?" How was there this much of a difference?

"I'm no stronger now than I was then. You're the one who has grown weaker. You're exhausted and half starved. If you fought me two weeks ago, you might well have won."

Yang took several heavy breaths, bangs over her eyes as she glanced at her hand. After a few more moments, she took a seat on the living room couch, letting out a sigh of defeat. He was right, although she'd never admit it. It wasn't that he was strong or that she was weak. She was just out of practice, still suffering the consequences of being out of action for so long. Much like Ruby had, she would need to get back into shape. That would include healthy meals, exercise and daily training.

"That's better." Yang snarled as he took a seat across from her. "Just take your time and recover." He bit into his snack again.

"Yea… and you're going to help me."

He was now choking on his bread, yellow eyes wide with horror.

"Come again?"

Yang smirked. "You heard me."

For the first time, Yang enjoyed the loud whine that emanated from Ruby's friend's lips. Ruby would have to wait for now, but she would be safe. The others would look after her. Yang wasn't fixed herself, either, but she was patched up enough to make the choice to follow.

 _Wait for me Ruby, I'm coming._

* * *

 **(Peaks from fortress) So, that's chapter five. Yea…**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 1st April**


	6. Chapter 6

***Waves from damaged fort* Well, the battle damage isn't nearly as bad as I thought. Thanks for the people (person) that gave helpful criticism. Always appreciated. Well, here is the next chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 6**

* * *

A fist flew towards her face.

Yang stepped back on instinct, drawing her hand up to block. A grunt escaped her as it drove her back. She struggled against his strength for a moment, before she ducked beneath and slammed a foot into his knee.

Mauve winced and backed away. He watched her warily, circling her like a wild animal.

She felt a rush of adrenaline as she turned to keep him before her, all the while maintaining the distance between them. "Had enough already?" she taunted, and flicked some sweat from her forehead.

He rushed forward the moment she did, crouched close to the ground and already upon her by the time she was done wiping the sweat away.

Yang's eyes widened as she tried to defend. She caught edge of his fist but only managed to deflect it. He struck her stomach and drove the air from her lungs. She staggered back and clutched her gut, doubled over. "O-Ouch."

Fighting with one hand was far more difficult than she'd ever imagined. She couldn't properly defend herself and she couldn't strike with the injured limb. It limited her movement and Mauve took full advantage of it. It irritated her, but she also understood. In a real fight with a skilled opponent, she'd already be done for. Mauve was holding back, and it pissed her off. Even if this was sparring, she wanted him to go all out. She'd just have to make him regret not giving it his all.

"Do you want to take a break?" he asked.

Her teeth grit together and she shook her head. There he went again, always underestimating her.

"You sure?"

She didn't answer with words. Her foot slammed down as she lashed out with a blow that would have sent him sprawling. To her frustration he was able to dodge it, and snapped a kick into her face that made her clutch her nose. "On second thought," Yang mumbled past her fingers, "maybe it is time for a break."

Mauve collapsed onto his back, which left her to sit down and sigh.

Well, her fighting style still sucked. She knew she couldn't be expected to suddenly recover anywhere near where she was before. Even so, with the way things were going it would be a while before she could go after Ruby. Her hand clutched the cold grass at the thought of her sister.

How was Ruby doing? Was she okay? Was she hurt? Yang shook off such thoughts. No. She might have been worried about Ruby if she was by herself, but combat-wise, Ruby could take care of herself and she wasn't on her own. She was with friends. Yang kept reminding herself of that. A small team could take care of one another and maneuver properly. At least Ruby still had friends who wouldn't leave her… Yang's eyes clenched shut as she counted to ten and tried to ward away such thoughts.

"I'm ready." Yang got back up on her feet. Whatever the case, nothing would be solved if she sat around and moped.

"You sure?" The faunus backflipped into a standing position, and sighed once he noticed how serious she was. "Guess so..."

Was he underestimating her? Frustration burned beneath her skin as she stepped into his guard to swing her fist, but when he moved to block it she twirled to the left instead - and delivered a punishing kick towards his midriff.

Mauve moved just out of range of the punch before he grabbed her foot and pushed her back.

She steadied herself and dug her heel into the ground. With narrowed eyes she surged forwards and aimed for his jaw.

He caught her hand in his, but didn't stop there. The faunus stepped back, drawing her body with him. Off-balance and unprepared, he slammed his hand into her face - then slammed her face into the dirt.

Pain flared through her nose but Yang snarled and stood up, ready to fight. She watched warily as he put some distance between them. She wanted nothing more than to run him down and beat his smug ass into the ground, but he'd proven the chances of that low every time. If only she still had her other arm… she could have beaten him; she was sure of it.

He held both his arms out before him. "We should stop for today." he said.

"Not yet!" Yang rubbed some dirt from her face before taking a stance again. She could keep going. She had to keep going.

"You're frustrated and tired."

"I said not yet!" Yang took deep breaths to calm herself down as Mauve took his stance. Calm down. She was hurt and in pain but she couldn't use her semblance. Not properly. She couldn't just charge in ablazing. She had no way to properly channel and unleash her attacks fluently. But maybe she didn't have to.

Mauve sighed. "Whenever you're ready, then..."

Yang charged once more. Letting out a swing of her fist and then a kick from one leg and then the other. She kept this combo as best she could and leapt back whenever it seemed best.

The battle fuelled her semblance more and more. When she found it high enough or unwilling to risk pushing further, she took another leap back before leading with her shoulder and slamming into him. She heard a satisfying grunt when the wind got knocked out of him. She dug her feet as he was still recoiling before sending a punch right across his face.

She smirked when he nearly fell over before her eyes widened when he used his hands to hold him up and kick out with both feet.

She felt the world spin before it all came crashing down. Agony coursed through her bruised and battered muscles, but again she tried to push herself up. "Ow…" Yang heard Mauve move into her line of sight. His bare feet visible before crouching down.

"It's an improvement." he panted, "Can we stop now?"

"W-what's the matter?" Yang slowly steadied herself to a sitting up position. "Getting tired?"

"Tired of something..."

"Lunch break!" Taiyang interrupted them before she could ask what he'd meant with _that_ comment. The older blond looked like the happiest man in the world as he trotted out with a tray in hand. Her dad may have had his differences about her training so soon but he knew she wouldn't back down now that she had her energy back. She guessed he was just grateful they could argue like that again.

"I hope he brought grapes." Mauve said, as he extended a hand down to her.

"And displease the friend of the family?" Yang scoffed and rejected his offer. She could stand up on her own, thank you very much. Her dad may have been showing kindness to Mauve at a sickening level, but that didn't mean she had to. It was ridiculous how affectionate her old man was being, giving the faunus pats on the back and buying grapes way more than he usually did. Her only consolation was that Mauve enjoyed the attention about as much as she did.

"I made something warm on account of the weather!" Tai clasped his hands as they took their seats around the small table on the porch. "Some nice bagels with jam, cream cheese, and a bit of meat." He then motioned to the rest of the meal. "Also whipped out some fruits and some stew. I can get cereal if you prefer."

"Geez dad, forget anything?" A bit much. To think at one point he didn't have time to cook for her.

"Oh! That reminds me. I also got herbal tea for you Yang. I have some tea for you too, Fenrir."

"Ugh." She groaned at the last bit. Herbal tea. She didn't like drinking it back at Beacon and she didn't like drinking it now. Blake always… always…

She clenched her eyes shut and counted to ten.

"Is mine herbal?" Mauve asked.

"Oh, no. Just Yang's. The doctor recommended it to help ease her body."

Great...

They both dug in, her dad watching them, or to be more accurate, her, with a bright smile. She made sure to avoid the tea as much as she could and make due with water.

"So, training seems to be going… well."

It was almost a question. Her dad probably didn't see her getting beat around as a sign of progress and while she would tend to agree, the sparring matches were helping her get back on track. All the cardio and exercise she was doing only meant something if it helped her get back to fighting condition. Sparring helped to show just that. Though it looked like she still had a way to go. The fights were a damn sight closer than what they'd been when they first started. If she still had both arms, she was sure she could take him… but then again, if she had both arms, she wouldn't have been here.

"I still think the regular exercise is enough." Mauve said.

"If only someone asked you." Yang sniped. She didn't know what he was complaining about. She was the one getting the majority of the bruising. Until she was ready to go out and search for Ruby, she needed to keep training. Mauve was the only real sparring partner she had since her dad wouldn't really go all out on her. It wasn't like she _wanted_ him around, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Hell, Mauve didn't seem to go all-out either, but it was a lot more then her dad would give. "Anyway, yea. Training is going alright."

Her dad nodded. "That's good to hear. So how much longer do you think it'll be before you're done with these sessions?"

"A few months, unfortunately." Mauve answered. "I still think she should let her body recover more before fighting."

A few months!? That wasn't an option. Not for her. She couldn't wait that long, even if that was the best thing for her health. She was well aware of the strain she was putting on her body, she felt it every single day. But the pain could be ignored. She had to find Ruby… had to make sure her little sister would be okay and not end up like Pyrrha had.

"I got enough of that from my doctor." She didn't need it from him. Sure it might be considered way too early to start up fighting but she had aura. That helped her with her recovery twice as fast as any normal person if not more.

She couldn't afford the luxury of time for her body. She needed to begin training as soon as possible so she could get out there as soon as possible. A few more months was out of the question. She'd bare with the pain and become stronger.

"You know…" her dad started. "You might be able to do better in these sessions if you got a prosthetic. It would also put less strain on your body."

A prosthetic? That would help, right? A robotic limb would give back her fighting style. With both arms she could be just as powerful as she use to be and maybe even leave earlier than she planned. Not to mention being able to do basic everyday activities and take care of herself. Things would be a lot easier for her. "That's…" Yang paused.

Why did the thought of it make her bowels clench?

"How long?" Mauve broke the silence. "The prosthetic. How long would it take to obtain?"

"Hm? Oh, a few months, maybe."

Her knuckles, that she didn't even know she had tightened, loosened at the estimate. She wouldn't be here that long. Another month at the very most, and she would be off by herself. It couldn't be helped.

"We can talk about it later." Yang nodded to her dad. Later… maybe when she came back home. Whenever that would be.

"Well if that's off the table, how about we take you shopping instead?" She looked to her dad at the suggestion. Shopping? "Well, it is that time of year." he added. "The snow is at least a few inches thick and you never know how worse it might get. You don't have that much in the way of winter clothing."

That was true. Now that it had been pointed out to her, she was barely warm as it was with her current attire. Training out in the cold wasn't exactly pleasant. She'd need clothes that could keep her warm but also wouldn't hinder her movements in a fight.

"Shopping sounds good..."

Especially when she could use the excuse of it to pick up some camping supplies for when she left. She needed rations, a tent - not to mention other camp equipment to cook and prepare food.

"Great!" Her dad rose from his seat. "I'll walk you there."

Yang's smile froze. "Come again?" she asked.

"I'll take you shopping. We can go to town today if you're feeling up to it."

Her heart froze in her chest as she glanced away from his cheerful face. Shit. She couldn't let her dad come with her. He'd see the supplies she'd get and that would draw suspicion. He wouldn't let her go shopping alone, though. Not in her current condition.

"Actually…" She didn't really have much time to think on her words. Her dad was staring at her, waiting for an answer. "Mauve was going to take me."

"I what-?" A not-so-gentle nudge from Yang got him to shut up and rub his side.

"Yea. We talked about going out to town sometime this week and now seems like the perfect chance." Yang forced a smile on her face.

"Really?" Her dad looked surprised for a moment before smiling. "That's great! I'm glad you two are getting along."

"Words cannot even begin to describe..." Mauve muttered.

"When do you want to leave?" her dad asked.

"In about an hour."

"I'll get some lien prepared for you."

The two teens watched as he walked away towards the house, and Yang smothered a wince once he was out of view and Mauve turned to face her with a bored expression.

"One…" Here we go. "I don't recall that conversation. Two, ow. Three, I don't have much experience in shopping and four, what the Hell?"

Yang glowered at him. "Just go along with it. This isn't exactly my idea of a fun time, either."

"Go along with it? Been doing that alot lately."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have something more important to do? No? Didn't think so." Geeze. "Look, You can buy...something when we get there." Happy?

"What would I even buy?"

"I don't know!" When they got there they would see. It was like talking to a child!

They stopped arguing when her dad came back. "Here. This should be enough to buy some clothes along with something to eat." She took the lien and looked them over. She'd need to buy at least some clothes so her dad didn't get suspicious. An outfit or two should do it. She could skip a meal and use the rest to buy some gear. Maybe she could get dad to send her on another shopping spree before she left, so she could pick up the other bits she needed.

"I'll go put on some warmer clothes." She excused herself from the table before entering the house - and collapsed against the shut door. "Damn it…"

Her chest rose and fell at a faster pace as she clutched her stump harder and harder. It only added to the pain which only made her want to clutch it harder. She had been down this road before. Back at the fall of Beacon. She had activated her semblance out of pure rage when she heard Blake had left. She had wanted to storm off of the Bullhead and beat anything that stood in her way. Though the pain wasn't quite as bad as it was back then, it still really sucked.

She had been getting similar rushes of pain after every sparring session. Not exactly something she could shrug off but manageable nonetheless. This was two or three tiers above that.

"I-Is this because of... my Semblance?" Was that it? Whenever she would fight with someone, she would feel a surge of pain up her stump, but whenever she used her semblance, she would feel a whole flood? "Shit!" Her fist struck against the wall before cursing lighter. She didn't want them to hear her. If they learned about this, then she'd never be allowed to continue her training. Mauve might even spill about her plans for leaving early. That could _not_ be allowed to happen.

She rose, stump still pulsed with pain that coursed throughout her body before step by step, she moved toward the stairs. She said she would leaven within the hour. She could rest till then. She'd text her dad from her room if she needed more time. The pain should subside in an hour. She hoped.

Each step was a struggle that sent a jolt of pain. She could feel her nerves shaped out from it. Feel the nerves mapped out by the signals that told her to stop. She ignored it the best she could. She had to get to her room. If she was seen like this, everything would be over. She might very well never see Ruby again.

 _Just a few more steps…_

Never in her entire life had a few more steps seemed like the farthest thing, but she pushed on and through the door. She collapsed on the side of her bed, her legs pushing her body up the rest of the way till she could lay on the bed at an awkward angle. She reached for her scroll on the counter to call for help, but paused.

Who would she call?

Her friends were gone, and now her sister had left as well. The hand holding the scroll shook, before the device fell from her nerveless fingers and she curled up into a ball to ride out the pain. There was no one left anymore. No team RWBY, no teammates at all.

She would have to do it alone, and until she could put them back together again. And so, as the pain lanced through her body, Yang grit her teeth and clenched her eyes shut. It would pass in a few minutes…

It always did.

* * *

The pain passed after a good fifteen minutes or so, and if either of the two men thought it odd she'd taken so long, they didn't mention it. From there it was a short trip into Patch, but a longer one to find a store that sold camping gear. The entire time there was nothing but silence between them. Yang had never been good with silence, but the faunus never spoke, so she'd been forced to come up with something.

"So, you and Ruby were always pretty close… how did that happen?"

She was starting to regret it when the silence wasn't filled for a few more seconds. Mauve raised a brow before finally speaking. "Odd question to suddenly ask."

She tried to shrug it off. "I wouldn't call it suddenly."

"I would."

Yang sighed. "Fine. It's suddenly. Does it matter? Just answer the question!" Throw her a bone here.

He stared at her for a few more moments before looking back ahead. "Well… it was roughly six years ago. Maybe seven?" He shrugged. "It was a while ago. I had just moved to Patch."

"You weren't born here?"

"That is what I just said." he continued. "I was wandering around the forest until something ran into me…"

She raised a brow. "Ran into?"

"Ruby had apparently just discovered her Semblance."

"Ah." She remembered that special time in their family's life. It was shortly after Yang had discovered her own. Boy had she freaked out about her hair on fire. She nearly burned down the house on several occasions. One of the disadvantages of living in a log cabin.

"Anyway, we ended up talking for a bit and it sort of just went from there."

"Just like that huh?" Yang was sort of hoping for more though it was more than she had ever learned before. Though before, she had tried to avoid learning about him. She had tried to avoid him period.

"Just like that." he responded.

"...I really didn't like you hanging out with my sister."

"I gathered that much." Mauve didn't sound upset or surprised. Then again, she didn't exactly make her feelings a secret to him.

"It wasn't you personally per se. Not at first." She shook her head. "It was because Ruby spent a lot of time with you, and more specifically, away from me."

Sure, Ruby had other friends and her own life, but Ruby mostly spent her time split between her, and Mauve. And that bugged her. She never complained about it and did her best not to show it to Ruby. She would never make her sister choose between herself and a friend. She didn't fear Ruby choosing a friend over her. Ruby would always choose her. She knew that. What Yang feared was the pain of the choice. She couldn't do that to her sister. She wouldn't do that to her sister. So she put up with a little bit of discomfort for Ruby. Wasn't it really a selfish thing for her? Just cause she wanted her sister to spend more time with her then a friend? And to think, she wanted her to make more friends at Beacon. To be more independent and less dependent on her.

"Ruby didn't have that many friends." Mauve said after a short pause. "At least, not in the way she was with you. Even fewer who she met without your intervention. It was only natural for her to stick close to the few she made on her own. At least... that's what I think."

Was that why Ruby was so close to Mauve? Because she had met him by herself? Because Yang hadn't helped set it up? Was that even really such a bad thing? In a way, it almost reminded her of Jaune.

Yang was starting to wish she had never asked in the first place. She had just wanted to fill the silence with some relatively harmless small talk. Maybe just learn a little bit about the friend Ruby had hung around so much. Now her mind was racing with thoughts on things she might have done to screw Ruby over with her friends. Should she have let Ruby make friends on her own as suppose to Yang introducing some herself? Maybe just encouraged her a bit more and let her handle the rest?

"As for dragging me along shopping, couldn't you just convince your father not to come?" Mauve asked.

"I did."

He wasn't here, was he?

"Without having to bring me, I meant."

"Look, I said I'd get you something, okay?"

"What would I buy?"

Yang took a deep breath.

"Just look around and tell me if you like something shiny or whatever."

"Something shiny?" Mauve sounded vaguely offended, but shook his head and sighed. "Will we be doing this again?"

"Hopefully not…" she muttered.

She didn't like owing people anything for too long. She prefered no loose ends in that regard. That went double for Mauve. Yang didn't want to admit it, but he had helped her in his own kind of way. Intentional or not, if it wasn't for him, she'd be moping in bed for who knows how much longer. Wasting time while Ruby got further and further away. So when she ended up using him as an excuse so her dad wouldn't tail them during shopping, she wasn't excited about that fact of owing him again. Hopefully he'd just let her buy him something and count the latest favor as fulfilled. Now if she could just get a way to pay him back for the first time.

Those thoughts were put on hold when they walked into town. It felt like a lifetime ago since she last walked these streets. Even longer when the whole place had a layer of snow to it. It all seemed almost foreign yet familiar all at the same time.

"Where do we go?" Mauve asked.

"Just... follow me." She led him to a small but well stocked store. She should be able to get just about everything she needed from here. Patch was mostly forests with a town, so people tended to camp for one reason or another and this was the place to go. Along with some rock climbing equipment for those occasional cliffs.

"You should get clothes first." Mauve sounded.

She spared him a glance over her shoulder. "Why?"

"If you spend money here first, you might not have enough money for an outfit. Wouldn't your father get suspicious if you came back without the exact thing he gave you money for?"

Yang grunted, not looking like she cared but understood. She could always return some stuff if she didn't have enough but that would just waste time and now that she thought about it, better to buy the heavy load last.

"Come on." She didn't say anything to agree with him, but moved toward the clothing store nonetheless. "If you like something, let me know. A shirt, some pants…" She glanced toward Mauve's bare feet. "Maybe some shoes." Wasn't it cold for him?

"I'll let you know."

She left him to look around. Though she doubted he'd actually buy shoes. He'd always walked around barefoot for as long as she remembered but if he did see anything he wanted, then she'd buy it for him and that be one less thing she owed him.

Her eyes wandered around the store, glancing from shelf to shelf. It was the winter season and the store had stocked up accordingly. She hadn't been shopping in a while but old habits died hard. It only took her twenty minutes to find something and five to get changed.

She looked herself over at the mirror of the changing room. Not bad. Even had a bit of style so that was a plus. The grey jacket fit around her form and offered room so not to restrain her movements. She'd need to wear a thick enough shirt under it though. The dark cargo pants wrapped around her waist just fine. They were baggy around the legs and gave her room to move her as she saw fit. Easy enough to put on too.

"Mauve!" Yang looked around for the faunus and spotted him glancing around the snacks under the desk of the cashier. Seriously? She walked over to him before turning him around. "I thought I told you to look around."

"I am." He motioned to the small snacks. "I'm deciding what to get. You said I could get something, right?"

For the love of-

"I'll get you some pants or something if you want. You don't have to get something so cheap if you're worried about price."

"Not many pants come with holes for a tail." She notices him flick his purple tipped tail to the side lazily.

"Then maybe a shirt?"

"There was nothing I liked."

Yang glanced at the cashier who just gave a shrug. "He's been staring at the snacks since he got here." The woman said. She stared back to Mauve.

"I looked quickly." He added.

Yang took a deep breath. "Have you decided what you want yet?"

"No." He kept looking between several choices.

Yang finally lost patience after a minute before taking several of each and throwing it on the counter. "We'll take these and these." He motioned to the snacks and the clothing she wore. The doctor had warned her about headaches. She felt one coming on right now.

* * *

Yang rubbed her forehead as she took a few more breaths. Just go to the store, buy what you need, and you'd be done. Mauve would go back to his home, and she could rest up for today. Gods knew she needed it. At least they'd managed to get out of the clothes store without Mauve buying every snack on display.

"You should relax." She had been til he opened his mouth. "Stress won't help you recover."

Yang scoffed. "Thanks for clearing that up, doctor."

"You also should have bought more than one outfit."

"I'll tell him this was the only thing I liked. My dad won't ask for the money back." It was fine to spend the rest on camping equipment.

"That's probably true."

"So long as you don't say anything, it should be fine."

He shrugged. "As you will..."

Mauve had been surprisingly more cooperative then she would have thought in the past month. He had helped her train and even kept her secret about leaving early to find Ruby. It wasn't something she had liked to bring him of all people into, but a necessary one. She would pay him back somehow. After she found Ruby and brought her safely home.

Maybe, that was what Mauve hoped for? That Yang would bring Ruby back? That would explain it. Whether Yang disliked him or not, he was Ruby's friend and he cared for her. Maybe this was his way of pitching in; to make up for not stopping Ruby in the first place. So, by letting him help her get back on her feet, she was doing him a favor…right? If she brought Ruby back, they'd be even. Right? Right! That made sense. It was also something Yang could do.

All thoughts stopped, along with her legs. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She thought her heart was going to pop out of her chest from how hard it was suddenly beating.

One part of her wanted to run as far away as she could. Another part of her wanted to rush forward and fight. A third part of her just wanted to continue to stand still in horror. The latter seemed to take precedence given how she still hadn't moved.

She had to be imagining it. What she was seeing couldn't be real. She had hopped that was the case. That it was the pain from earlier today. Maybe she was becoming delusional from the headaches or she was having some kind of episode. Something to help explain what she was seeing.

But there was none. As she gazed out to the sight ahead of her, she couldn't help but let two words pass her lips, each tainted with equal parts loathing… and fear.

"Mercury... Black..."

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUUUUN! So yea. That's happening. Things perhaps starting to move along into something other than depression and pain? Well, there will still be more of that. Anyway, I'm off to repair the damages to the fort for the next wave. See you next month.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 1st May**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ugh. Semester is almost over. I need a really long break. Hopefully that will leave me time to read and work more on this story. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 7**

* * *

Yang's breath hitched. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates. She felt her legs start to buckle before she steadied herself against a wall. Shit. Shit. Shit!

What the hell was Mercury Black doing in Patch?

Her throat began to dry up. She felt her chest begin to tighten. She clutched at it to try and alleviate some of the pain, but that only made it harder for her to stand without support. She couldn't breathe. She could barely stand. Fear wasn't a feeling she was used to, but after the fall of Beacon, she had become very intimate with it.

Images raced through Yang's mind. How she fought Mercury in the tournament. How she broke his leg out of anger-

 _Stop it!_ He attacked her! Or at least, that's what it looked like to her. That's how it was made to look by Cinder. She did nothing wrong. She had seen someone attack her, she retaliated in kind - it was that simple. Besides, the bastard deserved it after everything he had-

All those pent up feelings rushed back. Anger quickly replaced by sadness and then fear. Mercury was here, in Patch.

 _But why?_

Why was he here - and why now? Realising they were exposed, Yang grabbed Mauve's wrist and dragged him behind the corner of a building. She inched her face around the edge, doing her best to make sure he couldn't see them.

"Yang?"

She hushed Mauve and continued to focus on Mercury who currently stood outside a convenience store. _What is he doing here?_ If ever there was a question she wanted answered, this was it. _He must be in Patch under orders_. Cinder's no doubt, which meant she was still alive. Yang didn't understand everything, but from what uncle Qrow explained, they had reason to believe Cinder might have been dead. So much for that good news.

So what orders had he been given? Could it be Ruby? Was he sent here to get her sister? Was it some sort of revenge for ruining part of their plans? A lump formed in the back of her throat. What if Ruby had already been captured? During her travels, Cinder and her gang could have ambushed them. If Cinder could beat Pyrrha and Ozpin, then she could definitely take on Ruby and the remainder of Team JNPR. If that was true, did that mean Mercury was here for her? Tai? Was he supposed to take out Ruby's entire family just so Cinder could get some sick, twisted revenge?

She felt her world start to collapse in on itself. Ruby, her sister. She could be captured and in some sort of torture chamber. She could already be dead. she could be-

Something tugged harshly on her golden locks. Yang winced and turned to Mauve.. "Hey!" she hissed.

"Oh, are you listening now?" Mauve asked sarcastically. "Then maybe you can tell me what's going on."

Yang took a deep breath. Her crimson eyes turned back to their original lilac. She needed to stay calm. She hated to admit it, but that tug on her hair was what she needed. "I'm following that man." Yang pointed toward Mercury, or to be more precise, where he once stood. "Shit!"

She dragged Mauve with her and followed Mercury down the street. She was sure to keep a good distance so not to be spotted. When he finally stopped to talk to some civilians, she moved into an alleyway with Mauve.

She watched Mercury from the corner of a brick wall. From the looks of it, he was showing his scroll to the person… asking them something.

"What's he doing?" She couldn't see what was on the scroll from this angle. She didn't dare get close and risk being caught. He could kill her… he probably _would_ kill her.

"It looks like… he's asking for directions." Mauve answered.

Directions?

"Or looking for someone."

Looking for? Who could he be- RUBY!

Relief followed by concern washed over her. That must be it! If they already had Ruby, then they'd already know where to find her house but they didn't, so they must not have found her yet. Mercury, however, was here and was asking for directions in hopes of finding Ruby, probably thinking she was still in Patch.

The only question now was, what did she do about it?

She couldn't take on Mercury. Not in her current condition. She barely beat him during the tournament and that was when she had both arms and wasn't out of practice. She was far weaker now, and although she was improving fast, it wouldn't be enough to face him yet.

Maybe if she told her dad? He would be strong enough to take on Mercury no problem, but that was assuming he was alone. He had his partner, Emerald. Yang's head snapped around to try and catch the tan girl but couldn't find her. She could be here too. For all she knew, Cinder and others could be at Patch. If Cinder was here, then even her dad wouldn't be able to do anything.

The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to act. If Mercury kept asking around town, he was bound to find their house eventually. Even if he didn't find Ruby, he would find them. He would find her, try to get her to talk, and when she wouldn't he would kill her and go after her dad with who knows what backup.

She clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth as she tried to come up with some sort of solution. She didn't know what to do! There was no right choice. No matter what she did, she would be risking the people she cared about and she didn't have nearly enough power to make a difference.

"Hey." She felt a nudge on her shoulder. "He's moving. If we're going to follow him we better move."

Yang opened her eyes and straightened up before looking to the person beside her. Mauve. That's right. She wasn't alone, was she? Mauve was here with her. Now, dare she get him involved? They hardly got along but getting him stuck in something as serious as life and death… did she have the right? Should she even be thinking about it? Well, she already was, whether she should or shouldn't.

Mauve could certainly handle himself. Back before she started attending Beacon, he could beat her in spars and match ups. At the very least he could probably hold his own against Mercury. But if Mercury wasn't alone, if he had Emerald and some others along? Yang shook her head of those thoughts. She had to take things one step at a time or she'd never get anywhere.

"We need to return home."

"What about the guy?"

"Not now. We need to get home. I'll explain everything when we get back."

She hoped she was doing the right thing.

* * *

"And that's what happened at Beacon…" Yang sat on her bed, Mauve stood across from her at the other end of the room. She didn't enjoy going over the events of Beacon but given what she was considering getting him involved in, she owed him that much. She let out a long sigh to collect herself. Even so, the images. She could never forget the screams and sounds of people running for their lives. Nor could she forget how she felt during the moments that led to her… her current state. She shook her head and buried those feelings. No. She told the story and didn't need to think on it anymore. Remembering would only hurt and that wouldn't help with the here and now.

He remained silent for a moment, taking in the information before speaking up. "So this Mercury Black is a subordinate of a woman named Cinder and he's here searching for Ruby?"

"That's the only explanation I can think of," Yang said. "He might have backup. If they knew about my condition and if they didn't know about my dad, then maybe Cinder would have thought it was okay to send Mercury alone, but..." That was a lot of if's, and as of late, luck hadn't been on her side. She moved over her bed to the window. She looked out for any signs of Mercury or any other person. He had his partner Emerald so she might-

Her eyes widened, heart skipped a beat and her head fell down as she held at the curtain. Her whole body felt limp.

"Yang?" She heard Mauve move toward her. Hands moving to catch her if she fell.

"I-I'm fine." She straightened herself out to prove it. Shit. No she wasn't. "Mauve…" She gritted her teeth and looked to him. She couldn't just do nothing anymore. "I… need a favor." He stared at her and waited for to speak. "You're a faunus. So that means you have a more sensitive sense of smell, right?"

"My kind specifically."

"Out there," She pointed toward the window. "Toward the trees. Can you see if there's been anyone around besides me or dad?"

"Anyone?"

"Just…" She lowered her head, hand clutching the sheets. "Check... " She heard his footsteps as he moved toward the door. "Mauve." The footsteps stopped. Her gaze rose to meet his eyes. "Be careful." She was serious.

He stared at her for a moment before waving in acknowledgement. "I intended to."

She watched him exit the room, door shut before she collapsed face first into the bed. She felt as if her heart had grown ten pounds heavier. Her curled up body rising and lowering with each deep breath before she slowly sat up and rested against the headboard.

Amongst all the snow and trees, white and black, she could make out one other distinct color. _Pink..._

So much for luck.

* * *

Fenrir looked to the curtain covered windows of Yang's room from outside where he had been asked to check. He didn't see any indication that anyone had been here. He walked further away from the window, being sure to look over the snow for any footprints. He found none. The snow did make it hard to find any indentations until you were right on top of it, but he was certain there was nothing.

After walking several feet further out he caught a scent. It was light but it was there. He brushed past several dead trees before stopping where the scent seemed strongest. His eyes scanned the surrounding area for any signs that someone might have come by before noticing small tracks.

He knelt down beside it and took a closer look. At first, he thought they were animal tracks but he noticed the indentations inside the print. It was most likely a woman given that this print was a heel. He stood up and brushed the snow from his knees before glancing around the area. There was no doubt about it. Someone had been here and not long ago. She might even still be around. A reason to be on guard.

"Damn it…" He sighed. "This isn't going to end well."

* * *

Mauve's entrance gained Yang's attention and by the look on his face, he didn't have good news. "What did you find?"

"Someone has recently been around the house." he confirmed. "A woman most likely, unless you know any guys in heels."

Yang let out a frustrated groan, twisting her fingers in her golden locks before slamming her fist against the wall. Shit. "Thanks for your help." She at least knew what she would be dealing with. For the good it would do. "You should probably leave now. Something tells me my house won't be the safest place in the upcoming days." That was an understatement. If yang fought either of the two, she'd lose and as a result she would be at their mercy. If they even knew the meaning of the word.

"What would happen if Mercury or this girl got you?"

"I'd be killed." No doubt about it. "Well, tortured first and then killed." Neo and Mercury weren't the kind of people to be squirmish about those kind of things.

"This might be a good time to tell your father."

Her dad. That might not be such a bad idea. He was a skilled huntsman. Sure he hadn't been on any particularly dangerous missions as of late given his job as a teacher at Signal, but she was confident he still had all his skills. He would be strong enough to handle Mercury and probably even Neo, but if there were others… if Cinder alone was here then it was all over. For all she knew, Neo could already know where she was, which meant Mercury knew where she was along with whoever else was here. Damn it. There were just too many possibilities and not enough certainties. Her dad might get hurt or worse and it was going to be all her fault.

Mauve's sigh snapped Yang out of her thoughts. He scratched the back of his head and seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. "Your father has offered on several occasions to let me sleep over here. I think I'm going to take him up on it."

What was he…? Yang's eyes widened before her body relaxed when she realised what he meant by those words. "I… Thank you." She didn't know if it would make a difference in the end, but knowing there was one more fighter in the house, it made her feel more at ease. "But you need to understand how dangerous this is." She didn't want him getting into something he didn't understand. She didn't want to be responsible for another person's life.

"I got the jist of it from your explanation earlier." he assured. "Besides, I made a promise."

"This goes beyond any promise." She pushed. "I'm sure Ruby didn't expect anything like this to happen. At best she thought that you'd just have to put up with my attitude." Her sister didn't account for people responsible for Beacon's fall to come here. She wanted him to understand what he was really getting into. There was still time for him to back out.

"Ahuh." He turned around, not seeming to have heard or to have cared about what she had just said. "I'll let your father know I'll be staying over." The door clicked shut behind him.

"Idiot…" She still couldn't deny the ease she felt knowing he'd be nearby to help. Right now, she'd take all the help she could get.

Yang collapsed back onto her bed and let out a long sigh. She rationalized it the best she could, tried to see it in the way that would make her feel less guilty about accepting his help and endangering his life. It should have made her feel horrible but she couldn't help feeling relieved. The pulsing migraine that had been forming ever since he spotted Mercury started to fade a little. It was still there but had diminished.

Her body also felt less tense. Her muscles had been clenched and ready for an attack ever since she saw Mercury. It had only gotten worse after Neo was with him. Suffice to say she felt like her body would tear itself apart with how rigid she was feeling. To say she suddenly felt a lot better would be a lie but compared to how she just felt, her body didn't feel like it would tear itself to shreds. So that was something.

Okay, back track. She knew for sure Mercury and Neo were here. Emerald was like Mercury's partner so there was a good chance she was nearby as well. Assuming for the moment it was just those three, could they take them? Mauve could probably take on either Emerald or Mercury but not both. Yang herself could barely take on Mercury before, but given her current condition? Not a chance. For all she knew he could have been holding back. Then there was Neo. Yang couldn't handle her, but her dad probably could. Skilled crook or not, her dad was a trained huntsman. So long as he was around, so long as they stuck together, they could take all three of them. Yang herself… she couldn't take on any of them. She just wasn't in the right condition. Even if she was in tip top condition with proper training, the lack of an arm seriously hindered her. There just wasn't anything she could do to counter that.

This was all assuming it was just Mercury and Neo. What if Emerald was with them? What if some goons or even Cinder was with them? She couldn't just wait at home for them to make the first move.

And that was another thing, why were they such a target? Did Cinder really want Ruby that badly? Someone who could take down Beacon Academy had to have bigger goals. She wouldn't just send all her best soldiers here, would she? Was Patch the new target? Was Cinder planning to make Signal just like Beacon? Yang's hand tightened around the sheets at that. No. She wouldn't allow it. She wouldn't allow even younger students to suffer like she had. To lose like she had. Never again!

She glanced to Mauve who came back in. Her dad had been all too eager to accept him into their home. That was a good thing in this case. Her dad didn't suspect and she'd rather not get him involved just yet if it could be helped. She knew what she had to do though. What they had to do.

"We're going after Mercury."

Mauve looked at her with a raised brow. "Why? Didn't you just finish saying how dangerous he is?"

She knew that. It had been pointed out to her enough times but now she had a bigger reason than ever. "Because we're going to stop Mercury Black. We can't afford to let them make the first move. Our only chance is to catch them by surprise - and hopefully - when he's on his own."

She wouldn't let Mercury anywhere near her sister.

* * *

Starting their search for Mercury where they last spotted him seemed like a good idea. Ask around the store owners and a few pedestrians, and one of them was bound to remember something. She showed a picture of Mercury on her scroll to one shopkeeper, Mauve doing the same on the other side of the street. She smiled when a happy, hyperactive ball of black and white barked beside her.

She had decided to take Zwei along with them. For one, the company was always a welcome and he might be able to sniff out Mercury if he was close enough. The snow probably didn't help but it was still better to have him then to not.

Now if they could only get some luck! Between the two of them, they had to have asked dozens of people and they either ignored them, which you would think a girl with only one arm would get at least some attention, or didn't know. Come on! This wasn't that big of a town. Most people would notice if someone new came around. Mercury had to stick out. Then again, she had fallen for his act, so it wasn't unreasonable to think others would fall for whatever act he decided to perform, was it?

She sighed, feeling her cold forehead pulse before taking deep breaths. Saying she was stressed would be an understatement. Recently, whenever she got distressed, a migraine would come along and she had been feeling distressed a lot lately. At best, she would always have a pang of pain in her head. It was something she was trying to deal with. Trying being the operative word.

She let out another sigh before moving into one of the shops. It was warm, which was a welcomes feeling from being out in the cold asking random people. She walked in front of the shop owner and showed a picture of Mercury on her scroll. "Have you seen this man?"

"Oh, yes I have."

Yang's head shot up at that before leaning towards the old man. "Really?!" He had?! She straightened herself out when she noticed she was making the man uncomfortable. "S-Sorry. Um, you said you've seen this man? Can you tell me what you remember?" Please be something helpful.

"Well…" The old man, having recovered from her sudden action, rubbed his head in contemplation. He had hairy grey eyebrows and lashes. She was surprised he could see anything at all. "He came in a few hours ago or was it a couple…" He rubbed his chin, trying hard to remember such details. Two hours or three. She didn't care! Just get to the point. "Ah, yes. He came here asking questions about someone. Nice boy." She resisted the urge to correct that statement. "I believe he was going to the West Woods."

West Woods? Why the West Woods? It did give Yang some relief that Mercury wasn't headed toward her house. That was at least something. "Was there anything else?"

The man shook his head. "No. I don't believe so."

She thanked the old man for his help before exiting the store. West Woods. Why go to West Woods? Was he just roaming randomly in hopes of getting lucky? Had he been given some inaccurate information? Maybe one of the people around town had a bad vibe about Mercury when he asked about her and purposely sent him the wrong way. Wouldn't that be great? The only question left was, what to do with this information. He may still be in the West Woods, so it might be possible to get the jump on him. Assuming he was alone, that was. What if he wasn't? What if- She shook her head and stopped herself from forming the endless questions that would have followed. _No. Relax. Think this through. You have information. Use it._

First thing first, she had to tell Mauve. After a quick bit of searching, she found him just finishing a chat with someone. She explained the situation to him.

"West Woods?" She nodded. By the way his brows furrowed, he seemed worried.

"What's wrong?" Did he figure something out?

"I live in the West Woods."

Yang's eyes widened. She caught herself before her mind could go into the endless amount of questions that would solve nothing. She had to focus on what mattered.

"Did someone point him in the direction of you? This is my fault. I spent all this time training with you, word must have gotten out." She cursed. It could have been from when her old classmates came to visit or it might have been during their shopping trip. Either way, she had put Mauve in danger. "He must be trying to find you to get to me and Ruby." This was bad. Really bad.

"I suppose it was a good thing I slept over." No kidding. If Mauve had gone back home? She didn't even want to think about it. "So what now?"

That was the question, wasn't it? They knew where Mercury went. He might even still be there or waiting for Mauve to return. If that was the case, they had to go on the offensive. They could take Mercury out here and now. Assuming he was alone. If Neo was there… No. This was possibly the best and only chance they had of taking Mercury down and they were going to take it.

"We're going after him." Yang finally answered. "Mauve, lead the way." She didn't know where he lived and it was probably best that he take lead.

"Are you sure?" The look on her face must have been more confident than she actually felt since he started to lead the way.

She followed right behind him at a fair pace. Part of her wanted to tell him not to slow down for her, but another part of her didn't want to be left alone. For all she knew, Mercury could be heading back from his house and they could run into each other but it was more than just fear. She knew it wasn't fair, even if he had agreed to help her but the least she could do is be there with him when they did confront Mercury. She doubted she could do much. Maybe she could try and attack him when he was distracted or when his back was turned to her. For the most part however, it would be up to Mauve.

Her eyes darted to him for a moment. Maybe the people who told Mercury about where Mauve lived didn't think he was any trouble but her house hadn't been attacked as of yet so she doubted it was just that. The people of Patch would never knowingly put someone in harm's way. It was like a community. You just didn't do that. Mauve on the other hand wasn't exactly part of that community. She didn't know him all that well but she didn't think he had that many friends. As far as she knew, Ruby was his only friend. He was probably a sort of outcast so it was possible that people knowingly put him in some sort of danger. Whether they actually thought Mercury was going to do the guy harm any real harm or not, she couldn't say.

She'd like to think it wasn't because he was a faunus. Sure there weren't really that many faunus here but she didn't think the people of Patch were like that.

Then again, with the fall of Beacon, she wasn't sure how people saw things anymore...

She shook her head and steeled herself. Those things didn't matter right now. She had to focus on the here and now. And right now, they were about to face off against Mercury Black.

* * *

 **Hm, nothing much else to say. Will be behind forte for say two more chapters. Anyway, comment when possible. Means a lot to me.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 1st June**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the late post. Didn't get on top of things as I would have liked to. I blame procrastination. But anyway, new chapter. Won't keep you waiting any longer. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 8**

* * *

This was it.

This is where Mercury was. Where they would face off with him. They were just outside Mauve's house and only one of them would be coming out. Well, one or two but that wasn't the only thing on her mind. Maybe it wasn't that important but she still felt the need to ask.

"You live in a cave?"

"You live in a tree." Mauve countered.

"I live in a log cabin."

"Several trees then."

Yang sighed. "Okay. Okay. Not really important. This does make us more vulnerable though. Is there a back entrance?"

"No. It's a one door cave."

"Hole might be a better word."

"Do you want to wait outside?"

Yang sighed once again. "No. We don't even know if he's in there." They could be wasting their time.

"He's here." Mauve said. "Or was. Definitely passed by."

"How can you tell? Smell him?"

"That, and I noticed some dirt marks." He pointed to the dirt path around the entrance. "I haven't been here today and those marks aren't mine."

Yang squinted her eyes and tried her best to notice from behind the bushes. She saw it now. There were some foot prints. Shoes. Mauve didn't wear shoes.

"Come on." Mauve moved out of the bushes.

"Wait!" Yang gripped Mauve's wide sleeve. "What are you doing?"

"If he's inside, we need to stop him, right?"

Yang paused. "Well… yea."

"Then let's go. I don't like the idea of someone in my house."

Yang bit her lip, thinking it over before nodding. The longer she put it off, the harder it would be. She followed Mauve into the entrance of the cave. It was long enough that the light started to fade the further they went in. That didn't ease her anxiety, so she tried to change her perspective. It was dark, yes, but that just meant they had the advantage or to be more accurate, Mauve had the advantage. He was a faunus and could see in the dark while Mercury was human. A horrible kind of human but human nonetheless.

A dim light appeared at the end of the tunnel. It flickered slightly, almost like a flame. Maybe Mauve had torches in here? She would have asked if not for the fear of alerting Mercury. They came upon what could be considered a room. It was fairly large. Bigger than her living room actually but held no junctioning rooms. It was a nice enough place to live. Or would have been, if the place wasn't totally trashed.

"I take it you're not normally this messy?"

Mauve simply grunted and moved past her. It was obvious Mercury had been here and wrecked the place but had since left. There was the remnants of a bed against the stone wall, along with shelves. At least, she figured they were shelves since it was just a part of the stone pressed out from the wall. What might have rested atop it was now in small pieces on the floor. There wasn't much else in the place but the walls and floor were cut and indented filling the place with chunks of rock.

"What the hell?" A small bit of vandalism from Mercury she could get but why the caves walls itself? "He must have really been pissed when he realised we weren't here."

"He broke my bed…" Mauve stated. "And my shelf."

"Yeah…" Yang glanced to the floor and rubbed the back of her head. She was glad he wasn't here when Mercury arrived. And although there wasn't that much actually lost in the ransacking, she still felt bad. She watched Mauve move over to his shelf where some ruined items laid on the floor. "Did you lose anything important?"

"Don't have anything important." Mauve grunted and stood back up. "Forget it. What's done is done."

"Well... it doesn't look like anything too bad." It was a cave so the damaged walls and floor weren't too much of a problem.

Mauve hummed.

Yang moved around the cave, glancing at what little there was. "So, why do you live in a cave?"

"You're really not going to let this go, are you?"

"I mean, come on." She motioned to all around her. "A cave?" Was that even healthy? "I mean, is it a financial thing?"

"That's part of it." Mauve admitted. "Also, it's easier to make a home out of a cave. All the shelter is already there."

Yang hummed an understanding as she looked around the room more. Guess that made sense. She saw Zwei sniffing at some metal chains. Were they Emerald's? No. Emerald wouldn't have left her weapons around and her's weren't quite as large. There also wasn't any curved blade attached to it. It was just chains.

"At least this is still here." Mauve moved toward the chains and lifted them up.

"They're yours?"

"My weapons."

"Your weapons?" Yang repeated. She never recalled him using them during their spars or their matches before Beacon. Also, since when was a chain a weapon? Other than for a thug, she meant.

Zwei barked, the little corgi near the edge of the room, something on the floor by him. She walked over and knelt to it. Paper? She straightened out the crumpled piece as best she could. Her hand tightened around it a second later.

"What's that?" She felt Mauve looming over her to look at the object in question. "A picture?"

"This wouldn't happen to be yours, would it?"

Please say yes.

"No."

Shit.

That's what she was afraid of. Yang took another long look at the picture. No matter how many times she stared at it, the image wouldn't change. It was a picture of a large group of people. Her and her friends to be exact. It was taken just outside the house when everyone had gathered to wish her well. She hadn't been smiling then. There was no real reason to. Nothing to look forward to. Her thumb rubbed the picture where she stood in the middle. Things had changed. She had changed. There was now a purpose for her to act and that purpose was Ruby.

This picture, however, left a lot of things to worry about. Mercury must have had this. He had to. There was no other explanation. What was worse was he knew what her friends in Patch looked like. That was bad. Very bad. If he didn't know where she was now, it became a whole lot easier for him to find out. This was Yang's worst nightmare realised. There could be no doubt now. Mercury was using her to find Ruby.

"Here." Yang gave the photo to Mauve. "Looks like I've made you an accomplice."

Mauve nodded and looked at it. "Seems so."

"How can you be so calm about this? Mercury knows where you live! For all we know, he could have tortured someone for the information!" He could have targeted one of the people in the picture. Her gut churned at the thought of someone getting hurt because of her.

Mauve made a dismissive wave of his hand. "I doubt it. People wouldn't have put up much of a fuss telling someone where I lived. Besides, if they did torture someone, they would have gone to you directly. Not to my house."

"That… makes sense." Yang relaxed her body, taking a deep breath before exhaling.

"People were likely less guarded over information concerning me. I'm not the most social of people." Mauve explained.

She nodded, feeling slightly more relaxed as Mauve explained the situation. It made sense enough. Regardless of how long he had lived here, Mauve was more or less considered an outsider from his lack of interaction. People would have been wary of giving her details out, but an outside like Mauve?

"Well, Mercury's not here, so I guess we're more or less back to square one." They learned about the picture that was probably posted online by one of her friends. Most likely how Mercury knew where to start the search for her and Ruby. Of course the enemy has resources to look over the web. She was so out of it back then that she didn't give the picture a second thought. "Well, how are we supposed to find him now?"

"It's his job to find us." Mauve reminded.

"But he doesn't know where to find me." He doesn't know where she lived.

"He doesn't…"

The two looked at one another for a moment before Yang's eyes widened. "Neo!" She cursed under her breath. How could she forget about Neo of all people? She had been outside scouting her house and if Neo knew, Mercury knew. "I have to get back."

"You could be running into an ambush."

"So could my dad." Huntsman or not, if Mercury and Neo got the jump on him while he had his defenses down then… "I have to get home." She had to be there.

"We." Mauve corrected.

* * *

Yang and Mauve arrived just on the outskirts of her home. They each hid behind a tree, hesitant to get any closer. Before, Yang would have charged right through the door, or even the window. She couldn't afford to be that kind of huntress anymore. Not in her state. Not when others lives were at stake. Not when the last time she did that cost her an arm.

"Do you see anything?" Yang whispered.

He squinted his eyes, head shaking a no before he stopped in mid nod. He leaned forward slightly, eyes squinting a bit more before nodding a yes. "I see… I thought I saw a shadow. Maybe two."

"Thought?"

"No. I definitely saw it."

Yang cursed under her breath. Maybe it was her dad? No. He wouldn't have been home by now and he always called ahead of time. Maybe he forgot? Maybe she didn't check her scroll? She looked at said device before cursing again. Who was she kidding? She knew exactly who was in her house. Which made her next action all the more uncertain.

"What should we do?" Mauve looked to her. "It's your call."

Great. No pressure. Yang bit her lip, trying to come up with something. She used to say she was a girl that went with the flow. It had always worked for her. Now, the flow threatened to drag her into the rapids and drown her. Okay. Calm down. Think things through. Consider everything. First, what were her options? If they went in now, there was a very real possibility they would be overpowered. With that said, did they have to do anything? Sure at worst the house would be wrecked but that was a small price to pay for their safety. For her dad's safety. If they waited for him, then their chances went up. Mauve could take on Mercury and her dad could take on Neo. The matchup sounded a lot better than just her and Mauve.

But what if her and Mauve weren't the only ones with reinforcements? She had almost forgotten but Mercury had Emerald and from her matches in the festival, she was strong. Maybe not quite as strong as Mercury, but strong enough. Her semblance might also be enough to trick Tai… It worked on Pyrrha, after all.

Yang bit her nail. They couldn't wait. Mauve saw two people. Only two. Who knows when that number would go up. It was now or never. Yang pulled out her scroll and texted a frantic message to her father. No exact details. Just enough to make him worry, drop what he was doing and come rushing home.

All they had to do was hold their own. Not win, just stall.

Yang turned her gaze on Mauve, face set in determination. "We're going in."

"You sure?"

Yang nodded. "We rush in, catch them off guard and do what we can. If they are searching the house then we can get the jump on them." Maybe one of them would be by themselves for a moment. "If it really is Neo and Mercury, you take on Neo. I'll take Mercury."

"Will you be okay?" he asked. "Can you hold against him in your state?"

"Maybe… I don't know. What I do know is that I wouldn't be able to against Neo." At least she had beaten Mercury in the festival. Maybe he held back but at least that was a maybe. Neo almost killed her. At least with him, she had a chance. I'm not trying to beat him. I'm just trying to keep him busy till dad get's back. Mauve was about as strong as her back before Beacon. She hoped he'd kept his training up. She eyed him nervously. Mauve could actually die here. Neo had shown little care for lives before. She doubted anything had changed.

Mauve noticed. "I'll be fine."

She nodded.

They both crept slowly yet surely over to the house, sticking to what cover was available until they reached the front door. They stood on either side of it. Yang looked to Mauve and nodded. The door slammed open, both of them charging in, ready for combat.

The corridor was empty. It was almost anticlimactic.

Had they imagined it? Had Mauve been wrong? No. They had to keep their guards up. As they moved further in, the sign of trespass became clear. Furniture was knocked aside, snow and mud all over the floor. Someone had definitely been here, and they hadn't been subtle about it. Yang eased open a door and peeked her head inside. No one. There wasn't anyone-

A loud crash echoed from upstairs.

Yang's head snapped around so fast she almost got whiplash. She pointed toward the ceiling and held a finger before her mouth.

Mauve nodded, the two slowly making their way upstairs. It sounded like they were wrecking the house. Just like Mauve's cave had been. What were they looking for? Ruby? Indications on where she may be? They wouldn't find any but she couldn't take the chance. The upstairs hallways was in no better condition, a veritable wreck.

Another faint crash came from a side room. Her room. Yang slowly made her way over to said location. She looked to Mauve behind her and nodded. It was a repeat of the front door, except that this time, Yang knew the room wouldn't be empty. She pressed a hand against the door and took a deep breath. Now or never. It slammed open, wood hitting the back wall. Mauve and she charged into the room. Yang's stomach dropped.

Mercury and Neo.

Her worst fears confirmed.

Mercury turned to the door, eyes widening as he saw them. Yang was already upon him. Her only advantage was surprise. She had to make it count! She had to trust Mauve would do the same with Neo.

Yang kept up the barrage of punches and kicks. Mercury still seemed surprised to find them here. Don't let up. Not even for a second.

She heard a window shatter, followed by footsteps. Neo and Mauve had left the room. Good. No need to worry about outside interference. Mauve would be fine. She had to stay focused.

The element of surprise was waning. Mercury looked less surprised now and more calm. His movements more fluent. He spun and kicked towards her head. She ducked beneath it, holding one arm across her face to block his follow up blow. Her aura flexed but held.

She tried to remember her training with Mauve. Things were different now. She had to adapt. She leapt back, ducked low and swept towards his legs. Mercury jumped above it but gasped as she buried her fist in his stomach. His knee caught her face before she could finish him. He landed, dodged back and then regarded her with a wary expression.

She did the same.

"Not bad. I didn't expect you to still be able to fight. What with being a cripple."

Yang's teeth ground together but she didn't take the bait. He was just trying to make her angry. To make a mistake. She couldn't be that kind of person anymore.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

Yang's eyes flared red.

She charged in. Mercury was on the offensive now. She side stepped his fist, caught his knee with her own. Her counter attack had to be canceled, drawn back into a block as he took advantage of the opening and drove his elbow at her face.

He wasn't going easy on her anymore. She had one arm, and he seemed determined to take advantage of it.

Sweat running down her head, she looked toward the window. Mauve was nowhere to be seen. Likely still fighting Neo. Her dad was on route but she had to buy him more time. Stall. She just had to stall. Survive.

Mercury saw an opening, stepped in and threw a fist toward her face.

Yang ducked and rolled to the side. She bumped into the chair, grabbed the leg with one hand and smashed it against his ribs. Mercury fell back in shock and pain. She didn't let up and threw the remains at his face.

She grabbed the mirror off the wall and used it as a shield against Mercury's punch. She gave a small smirk at the wince he made before kicking through it and catching him in the stomach. He flew back and crashed into the bed before falling over it to the other side.

"Alright." Mercury growled from behind the bed. "Two can play at that game."

With a growl, he threw the bed side table at her, forcing her to roll to the side only for him to be on her the next moment. She backed up to dodge, only for her back to press against the wall. She slammed a fist into his face but he ignored it. He kneed her in the gut. Breath left her, and before she could get it back, his hands wrapped around her throat.

She couldn't breathe. Fingers scratched against his wrists, and her legs kicked wildly. It was all for nothing as she felt herself pressed further up against the wall. Mercury leaned forward, eyes alight with joy as he choked the life out of her. Black spots danced at the edge of her vision.

She was going to die. Right here in her very room. Mauve... Dad… anybody. Help.

A ferocious snarl was her answer.

Mercury cried out, letting her go as he staggered back in shock. He waved one arm, desperate to get the ball of fur and teeth off.t Zwei kept hold. The corgi's eyes were narrowed, hackles raised. Intent on making the one who hurt his master pay. He growled and shook his body, as though trying to tear a huge chunk from the man's arm.

Yang fell to the floor and fought for breath. Taking in much needed oxygen.

Mercury managed to pry Zwei off his arm and threw the corgi against the wall. Zwei yelped but was fine due to his aura. He dashed back before Yang and planted himself between them, ferally.

"Damn dog." Mercury grunted. "Cute, but that won't save you." He took a step forward.

They both heard a crash downstairs.

"YANG!" Taiyang screamed. "Yang! Yang, where are you? Are you alright?"

Mercury looked towards the door and cursed. Even as Yang opened her mouth and cried out for help. She screamed for help, and that she was upstairs. Feet quickly pounded up the stairs, echoing through the house.

"Ugh. Another time, babe." Mercury made for the window only for Zwei to leap at his back. Teeth bit down on Mercury's arm but he shrugged off his jacket and threw it and the dog to the side. He leapt out the window, only for the door to the room to slam open.

Taiyang stormed in, weapon deployed and a furious expression on his face. He looked ready to commit murder. "Where is he? What happened?" Taiyang looked towards the window and for a moment it looked like he might follow. He turned back to her and abandoned the idea. His knee hit the floor as he knelt beside her and placed one hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" His eyes roamed up and down her body, looking for injuries.

She waved a hand and sat against the wall. "I'm fine. Mauve. Chased the other one." She pointed out to the window. "Help him."

Taiyang nodded and looked to the side. "Look after Yang."

The corgi gave an affirmative bark.

The huntsman leapt out the window.

* * *

Mercury and Neo escaped...

Taiyang and Mauve came back before she even finished catching her breath, and neither with a prisoner in tow. The fight over, the three of them congregated in the kitchen. Her at the table, while Taiyang flustered over every bruise as though each might prove fatal.

"What happened?" Taiyang asked. "What went wrong? Who were they?"

It looked like Mauve was about to speak up but Yang cut him off before he could. "Thieves. Ransacked the house." She shrugged. Keeping her finger to her lips for Mauve to keep quiet. His eyes narrowed but he didn't argue. "Mauve and I were inside. I sent you the text but we were attacked and had to defend ourselves."

Taiyang's teeth gritted together before he took a deep breath. He looked toward Mauve with a more fond expression. "You are officially the best friend of the family."

"Please no hugs." Mauve said when it looked like Tai might actually do it. Yang rolled her eyes and tuned out most of her dad's thanks. At least he wasn't suspicious.

"Dad, could you maybe make us something to eat?" Though Yang was hungry, She mostly needed the excuse to talk with Mauve.

"Of course!" Her dad straightened up. "What do you want? No wait, I'll make everything."

"He isn't serious, is he?" Mauve asked once he was gone.

"Well, he did go shopping…" Yang shook off the small talk. She motioned for Mauve to follow as they walked upstairs to her room. She shut the door and sat on the bed which was about the only thing that wasn't completely wrecked. "So… you look pretty good for someone who just went against a mini tank." She remembered her last match up with Neo and it was completely one sided. The fact that Mauve didn't have a scratch on him was kind of surprising.

"It wasn't much of a fight." Mauve said. "She ran and hardly fought back. She seemed more interested in escaping then anything else." He shrugged his shoulders. "She was too fast for me to follow."

Yang's brow furrowed at the news. She didn't fight back? Why? Neo was a level above she and Mauve. Someone who could have maybe even taken on their entire team, had she the chance. So why not fight back? She couldn't have known Yang called for backup. Maybe she just assumed she had? A sort of, better safe than sorry, tactic? Wouldn't that be a nice thought...

"Why didn't you tell your father about those two?" Mauve asked.

Yang sighed, clutching a pillow to her chest as she tried to relax. "I don't want to worry him more then I have to." Telling him that the one who planned Beacon's fall was looking for her only to get to her sister wouldn't help things. It would just make him panic. "And I'd like it to stay that way."

Mauve sighed but didn't argue. "So, we won."

"We didn't win." Yang said. "Both Neo and Mercury escaped and they know where I am. They could come back and with even more numbers." Emerald could still be around. "It isn't safe here…"

"Considering the turn of events, this might be the safest or to be more precise, least dangerous place."

"It's only dangerous here if I stay." Yang pointed out.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, I have to leave." She had to leave home to protect it.

"Leave? Leave where? A nearby inn?"

Yang shook her head. "Not leave like leave home and go to the town. Like leave Patch kind of leave."

Mauve crossed his arms, brow raised. "You've done some stupid things in the past but this is pretty up there."

"I'm serious."

"That only makes it worse."

She took a deep breath. "If I stay, I'll just end up being targeted again."

"Your father is nearby." he reminded. "He's strong enough to protect you."

"For now... but what if someone stronger is sent? What if the people at Signal are targeted?" If she just sat around waiting for them then sooner or later they would succeed. And who knows what damage would be done by then?

"You really think a lot of yourself, huh?"

That wasn't it at all. Right now, Yang's opinion of herself wasn't all that high and it wasn't that she in particular was valuable. It was Ruby. The enemy wanted Ruby and would do anything to get to her. She doubted they would believe her when she said she didn't know where Ruby was. Not really.

"You've seen how dangerous hey can be." Yang pressed.

"I saw how they can wreck houses and how one can run really fast. Not exactly the most deadly of skills."

"Mercury nearly killed me."

"Given your current state, that isn't exactly an accomplishment."

Lilac eyes flared red for a moment before she took a deep breath. In through the nose and out through the mouth. "I'm telling you, they're dangerous. If I leave, then they won't bother with here anymore."

"And then what?"

"Then dad will be safe."

"And you?" Mauve pressed

"What about me?"

"If they track you, you won't have a chance." he said. "Your father will be safe. You won't."

Yang went silent, lowering her head to the right. She knew that. How could she not? Even with all her training she could, at best, take on maybe a few goons like in the White Fang. That didn't change things. "I'll deal with that when the time comes."

"I'm telling your father."

Yang's eyes widened. "Don't!" Her hand reached out towards his sleeve but he just shrugged it off, making her fall to her knees. She winced, her body still sore from the fight. "Stop!"

"You're going to get yourself killed."

"I won't!"

"You will."

"Just…" She held her hand out. "Just give me some time. I need to think things over."

Mauve raised a brow but turned her way. "What things?"

"Just… things." She made a noise to get his attention when he started to turn. "I won't run off or do anything drastic just yet. I promise. I just need some time to myself." she rose to her feet. "Please…" She lowered her head and gritted her teeth.

She felt Mauve staring at her for what seemed like forever till he sighed. "Fine…" Yang raised her head. "I'll be staying over then. My house is wrecked and you're dad already offered me a place till I fix things up."

And no doubt to keep an eye on her incase she did decide to leave without warning. She could accept that. She was a little relieved at it. Mercury, Neo and who knows what else could come back any moment.

"Thanks…"

Mauve just grunted and walked out of her room.

Yang flopped onto her bed and let out an exasperated sigh. She was tired and needed to rest and it wasn't even dark out yet. Not to mention the window still shattered. Fuck it. She was almost strangled to death. She deserved a rest. Her head rolled to the left, face half covered in pillow before her eye honed in on a jacket. Mercury's. He took it off in order to escape from Zwei. That reminded her, she needed to give the little fur ball something great to eat next time. He sure earned it.

Curiosity overtook her desire to sleep as she sat up and reached for the clothing. She held it upside down and felt something drop into her lap. She blinked and took hold of the object.

A small smile crept up her face.

Zwei was getting a feast.

* * *

 **I will try to post chapters a bit early but may have my chapters in the first week or so of the month as suppose to the first day. Will see. Till next time. As a birthday gift to me, please comment and subscribe.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: July**


	9. Chapter 9

**So, dad's dead. Might as well get that out of the way for those of you who read these writers commentary. It's part of why I didn't post last 3 or so months. Just felt like doing other stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to work on my writing though some stuff has been added to life. Also… thinking of making a pa t reon page. Figure it couldn't hurt to try. For more info, look to the bottom after the story.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeer'Aran_

 **Chapter 9**

* * *

A couple of days had passed and there had been no sign of Mercury, Neo or anyone else under Cinder. Her dad had alerted the authorities to what had happened, but Yang didn't know what good that would do. As for Mauve, he had been given an extended invitation to their house since his place wasn't currently up to code. They neglected to mention that part to him. Speaking of which, her and Mauve hadn't talked much since the break in.

He had given her time to think like they talked about and she had used that time wisely. She had made up her mind and Mauve's entrance to her room was perfect timing. She laid the scroll in her hand down on the side of the bed as he approached her bed.

"So..." He looked to her with a raised brow. "You've had time to think."

"I have." She took a deep breath. "I'm going to leave."

He headed straight for the door.

"Not for the reason you think!" Yang shouted. Not exactly.

He turned back but didn't move from his spot. "That matters?"

"Yes. Sort of." She waved her hand. "Just listen." She took a deep breath. "If I stay here, they'll keep coming back till we're all dead." Or till they learned where Ruby was. Which, even if she died, she would never tell. Neither would Tai. "So, I need to leave."

"I know you've been having headaches, much like i'm having right now, but we already talked about how this was a stupid idea."

"I know." She did. "But I'm not going to just go randomly chasing after them without any leads." She held out the scroll from her bed. "I have this."

"Your… scroll?"

Yang shook her head. "Not mine. Mercury's. I found it in the jacket Zwei dragged off him."

"Is that why every time I see that dog, he's eating a biscuit?"

"Yes." Yes it was. She owed Zwei a lot more dog biscuits. "I haven't been able to actually get into it. It's password protected, but I know a guy who can hack it or at the very least, can get people who do."

"Who?"

"He's not in Patch. He's in Vale. A guy called Junior."

Mauve raised a brow. "Junior?"

"Don't mind the name. The point is I can get to him and get Mercury's scroll unlocked."

"And then what?"

"Then I see what's on the scroll." Mercury had his scroll locked for a reason and she was willing to bet it wasn't just for privacy's sake. More likely the location of a base, or important messages and orders from Cinder. At the very least it had to have some leads she could use.

"Let's say you're right. You find this Junior person and hack into the phone. It even has whatever information you could possibly want. Then what?"

"Then I act."

"How?"

Yang let out a grunt. "What do you mean how? Depending on what I find on the scroll i'll act accordingly."

"So if it has the location of say a base or even a target, what then? Fight your way to it? What if Mercury or an ally of his finds you?"

"That won't happen."

"It could." Mauve pressed. "If not during the trip toward your contact or destination then definitely at it. What then?"

She hesitated. "I…"

"Can you beat Mercury? Could you even beat him at half strength?"

"I don't plan to fight him."

"It doesn't matter what you plan." Mauve moved towards her. "Things don't always go according to plan. I would think you of all people would get that by now."

Yang tightened her grip on her sheets. "Of course I do, but I can't just sit back and do nothing! I have to make myself useful!" To Ruby. "There are always risks, but I think I'm managing pretty well considering!"

"Lowered expectations don't change things."

Yang gritted her teeth. "I'm not saying it'll be easy or safe but I have to do something! I can't just sit around while my sister is out who knows where trying to fight some super-powerful, crazy lady with who knows what at her disposal!" She couldn't afford to wait for herself to recover fully. Not with Ruby on the line.

Mauve stared at her for a moment and if it wasn't for his neutral expression, she might have thought she got through to him. He sighed and turned toward the door.

"Hey-"

"Do what you want." He glanced over his shoulder. "The fact that you thought it through this much must say something. What that is I'm not sure."

She watched him exit the room leaving her to herself.

That was...good? At the very least it didn't look like Mauve was going to rat her out.

There was no point in delaying. She stood up and started to pack some things. She would leave tonight. She just had one last thing to do.

* * *

"So, I know it's been a while. I probably could have visited after all the time I took brooding and sulking." There was silence. Not that she expected an answer from a gravestone. "I've… been through some shit to say the least. Still going through some of that. And I know, no cursing." Yang had once overheard uncle Qrow let out a curse and she repeated it to Summer. She threw a fit when she found out Yang had heard it from him.

Yang smiled at the memory.

"So, there's also Mauve. He's… an ass." She liked it better when they never talked. "Annoying too. Way too literal about things… but he did kinda help me out, I guess. I owe him for going along with some stuff that's happened lately." A lot of dangerous stuff. "Still don't know how Ruby deals with him, though. Then again, I never stuck around to find out." Whenever he came along she left soon after. "I think the only reason he stayed around this long is because he made a promise to her." Ruby must have really put out the big guns to make him do this. Puppy dog eyes.

Another smile crept up her face. She would have loved to see that. She wished she could see Ruby.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. I have… had… some team mates during my stay in Beacon. Ruby probably told you about them. There's Weiss. She's a princess. Well, heiress actually. I think the difference is one get's a tiara and the other doesn't. Though she could certainly buy one."

She frowned at the latest memories of her. Yang didn't know what Weiss thought about her. Weiss probably hated her guts. She wouldn't blame her. She had gone through as much as any of them and she had taken care of Ruby while she was unconscious.

Come to think of it, Ruby would always visit Summer. It was only during Beacon that her trips became less frequent. Yang though had no excuse. She didn't visit often. Ruby had probably already told her all about their team.

"Then there's Blake. She's a faunus, even has the ears." Yang tried to mimic a cat ear above her head with her hand. "She reads a lot everyday. I… I don't know for sure why she left. Maybe she couldn't deal with everything that happened. She used to be part of the White Fang, and they were responsible for the attack on Beacon. Maybe she didn't feel safe around us."

With her losing an arm and Ruby unconscious, she could understand why.

"I… I know she had a reason. Blake isn't a bad person. She isn't like…" Yang took a deep breath and relaxed her breathing. "She isn't like Raven."

"I wanted to let you know I'm going on a trip. An adventure!" She tried to sound excited but just slumped."It's dangerous, but I bet you already know that. Ruby would have visited you before she left. Honestly, I may not make it. The odds are pretty stacked against me. But… If I found out that something happened to Ruby when I was here… and that she had to be buried next to you…" Yang bit down on her lip. "I would never be able to forgive myself.

That's why she had to find Ruby. She'd find her and make sure she's safe, and make sure she stayed safe.

Yang curled her hand into a fist and stuck it out. "I promise you. I'll find her and keep her safe."

Then when all of this was finally over, they could both come back here and visit Summer. They could bring dad too. They were overdue a family visit.

"It was nice talking to you, Mom."

Yang turned to leave. Her heart froze the next moment.

Before her was over eight feet of snarling pure rage. The Beowolf crouched on all fours and growled, ready to pounce and close the distance between them in a second. Shit. How did this happen? No. If she thought about it, she was surprised it had taken this long. All of Yang's self loathing and depression? Prime negative energy buffey. Especially this far out in the woods. It was a wonder Grimm hadn't attacked their house.

The Beowolf snarled once more as it stepped forward. Yang stepped back. She felt her heel hit something. It was Summer's tombstone. She stared at it for a moment. Her hand curled into a fist and glared back at the Grimm. No. She wasn't going to run. She wasn't afraid. If she couldn't even handle this much? She really was just playing the fool.

"Don't think I'm going to let you embarrass me infront of my mom's grave." She took a step forward and knelt into a stance. "Come and get it."

As if on cue, the Beowolf surged forward on all four. The snow it picked up doing little to deter it as it lunged into the air with its claws stretched out. Yang tightened her first, pulled it back and swung across the beowulf's face sending it hurtling through the air and off the cliff towards the right.

She took a deep breath and grinned at her accomplishment. She may be weakened but she wasn't defenseless. She could still fight!

As several more Beowolves came into view, Yang's grin grew all the wider. This was nothing. One arm or not, she could take them on! She'd take on anyone who got in her way!

* * *

Yang's hand immediately clasped around her scroll and turned off the alarm only to wince a moment later. She looked to the time. It was well into the night which meant her dad would be fast asleep. She slowly stood up, stretched her sore body and quickly dressed into her new outfit. It looked a lot like her outfit she use to wear only instead of mini-shorts she wore longer black pants that tucked into her brown boots. Her coat was also longer, falling down to her legs. She made sure to button up all the way. There was still snow outside and it was cold.

She hauled her backpack over her shoulder only to wince once more. Defenseless or not, she may have overdone it fighting those Beowolves. She didn't let it deter her. It was harder but she could still defend herself. She could fight at least a few Grimm and she would fight people too if need be. She just had to be more careful.

She thought about jumping from the window and even though it was only a one story, she didn't feel like adding any unnecessary stress to her body. So she cracked the door open and slowly stepped down the stairs into the living room. She froze.

Zwei sat in front of the door, eyes and mouth open as it panted happily. It looked like he was about to bark.

"Shhh!" She held a finger over her lips to signal for him not to bark or make any sort of noise. "Quiet!"

Zwei was a smart dog. Smarter than most and even some people. So she was sure he could understand her. It also meant he was smart enough to understand what she was doing. Which is why he didn't budge from the door. He just say there, panting with his tongue sticking out.

"Zwei." Yang whispered. "Come on. Move." She tried to go around him but he just stood in her way each time. Eventually he stood right against the door. Yang sighed and threw her arm in the air. "Come on!"

Arguing with Zwei was pointless and might wake up her dad. Instead, she went into the kitchen and grabbed a dog biscuit. Zwei's eyes lit up when he saw and he was suddenly paying a lot more attention.

"Huh? What do you say? Move and you can have one.".

As hungry as Zwei was, he seemed to know what she wanted and looked away with a small growl. He backed up so he was pressed against the wall, keeping her from leaving.

"Zwei, please move."

The corgi tilted his head before letting out a small bark. He stepped forward, wagging his small tail before walking forward.

Yang took the chance to open the door and walk out. When she turned around she saw Zwei in front of her. How did he even…

"Oh, come on." Zwei barked again. "What? What do you want? You want to come with?"

Zwei yipped and wagged his tail.

"I can't bring you. I didn't even pack any dog food."

Whatever her complaint, it looked like he was done negotiating. Zwei sat on his hind legs and took in a deep breath, ready to howl for her dad to hear.

"Okay! Okay!" She held her hand out. "You can come. Just _please_ don't make any noise." Zwei nodded. Sometimes, he was too smart.

With Zwei in tow, Yang made her way further and further from her home. She glanced back only once. She thought about her father and how he would react next morning when he saw she was gone. She was acting like Ruby in a way. Well, a _lot_ like Ruby. No explanation or hint of leaving say for a note. She frowned but turned away and moved on. She had to do this. She couldn't just sit around doing nothing. Even if she wasn't at one hundred percent or even if she never would, she still had to act.

Would he be mad? Sad? Would he blame it all on Mauve? She felt bad that she had gotten him all caught up in her own stuff. He might be...well, him, but he didn't deserve her dad's anger. She'd just have to make it up to him, but if he was as close friends with Ruby as she thought, then making sure Ruby was safe would be the best way to thank him. He'd understand.

No more looking back. Only forward.

It was Zwei's halt that had her pause. She looked to him to see what was wrong. He had crouched down and started to growl. The hackles on the back of his neck going up. Her eyes darted forward. She didn't see anything at first but kept in a defensive stance. Zwei had better sight and hearing then her. He wouldn't be acting up unless something was there.

She heard foot steps which made her crouch a little lower. Her eyes squinted to make out the image. Grimm? No. That didn't seem right. A few more footsteps and the figure was within view.

"Yo." Mauve greeted.

She would have prefered Grimm.

Zwei continued to growl which she could certainly understand. She gave the corgi a pat to try and relax him before turning her attention to Mauve. He just stood there.

"What are you doing here?"

"Waiting."

He shifted his bare feet around the snow. Did he seriously not have any shoes at all? And then came the more dreaded question.

"Waiting for what?"

"You."

Oh, hell no.

"Oh, hell no."

Yang would have made an X with her hands if she had both of them. She settled for rapid waving instead.

"You are so not coming with me. I packed for one and-"

"Have my own bag."

"And second." Yang continued. "I don't want you to come! Zwei doesn't even want you to come!" And he was an excellent judge of character.

"If I stay, your dad would just come after me. I don't wanna deal with that."

While that made Yang inwardly wince, she still held her ground. "I said no."

"He'd also question me. I'd tell him where you would go to avoid a scene."

Yang growled. "You wouldn't."

"You're right."

Yang relaxed.

"I'd tell him before you left the island."

Yang growled.

She took a deep breath, counted to ten, and tried to think on the situation. She couldn't let him come with her. She just couldn't. No way. Out of the question. There was no reason to let him. Well… that wasn't entirely true. Nope! Some reasons or not, she still said no. But if she didn't let him come…

She took another deep breath. "Why do you want to come?"

"Aside from escaping your dad's wrath?" Yang remained silent. "Partial pay back for my cave and… and a promise."

Ugh. She knew Ruby meant well, but Yang was really starting to resent her little sister's care. The more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed like she would walk away from this alone.

"You can't do this alone." Mauve went on. "You're not going to just stop at cracking the scroll. You'll end up following whatever leads it turns up, you'll die, I'll be blamed somehow, and will have to deal with a sobbing red-hooded girl."

That last image had her wincing. She had wanted to join up with Ruby, and to be there for her to help emotionally if not in terms of combat. Though, as it was, she didn't think she'd even get the chance. She let out another sigh as she rubbed her head furiously. What the hell? Ruby got to make a exit without dealing with any of this, so why couldn't she?

"Mauve-"

"Besides, I think you owe me for putting me through all this crap." Yang growled at his interruption as she tried to keep calm. "I'd have stopped arguing and just led the way but I'm not exactly sure how you planned to get off this island. Assuming you thought that far ahead. So, if you could hurry up."

She was pretty sure the snow around her was starting to melt. Fantastic. Flipping fantastic. She marched past Mauve as she started to lead the way. She heard Zwei follow right behind her.

"Can you even see where you're going?" Mauve asked.

"Flashlight." She showed said instrument before turning it on. "Not all of us have nearly perfect sight at night."

The track forward was mostly silent. Only the crunching of snow beneath their weight and Zwei's occasional bark filled the silence. She had some things to say but they wouldn't be friendly.

"So, where are we going?" Mauve asked. "Taking a bullhead?"

"Can't. They've become more rare to use with everything going on. We're going to use a ferry and you better have brought some lien with you. I'm not paying for your ticket."

"I have some lien." Mauve confirmed.

So much for him staying behind. The silence remained up to the point they reached the docks. Patch wasn't quite the hussle and hubble of people so the ferries at night were far and few between. Though with the lack of bullheads, they had become more essential on getting off the island. Not that many people wanted to actually leave the island nowadays so much as get on it.

Regardless, Yang had checked the docking schedule and found that tonight had a ship coming.

"One ticket please." Not like she had to specify to where given the time of day. She paid and took the ticket before making her way to the ferry. She went to the back and rested her hand on the edge. She took a deep breath and could feel the cold air mixed with seawater. Normally by bullhead was the way she and Ruby traveled from and to Patch. They didn't leave the island often but the few times they did it was by bullhead and Ruby would always love the sights from up above the ship. Yang never thought much of it. She missed those moments.

She was glad that Mauve didn't feel the need to come near her. Zwei would go wherever but stay on the ferry. She just wanted to stay like this for a would be precious few chances to relax once they reached Vale, after all.

Her eyes looked out into the dark distance and whispered a promise that was lost to the wind.

Maybe Ruby would hear it.

* * *

 **So, straight to the point. I won't actually open a** **pa t reon** **till at least this story is done which won't be for some time since the estimated length in terms of chapters will be fairly long. Just wanted to let people know. Maybe get the word spread a little should I be considered good enough to consider supporting.**

 **I will try my best to continue with my monthly post. Can't promise anything right now.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I yet live! Here's another chapter. Hope this can tie you all over for a bit. Things will start to pick up in this chapter and I am please to state this is 5k words. A little more even.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur al'Aran_

 **Chapter 10**

* * *

Yang's boots hit the pier as she jumped off the ferry. She shielded her eyes from the bright sun and took in Vale for the first time in what felt like months. She hadn't gotten much sleep on the ferry, more due to anticipation than discomfort.

A small thump followed by a heavier one landed beside her. "You could have waited for the ferry to dock."

"No time for that and no time for sightseeing either. Welcome to Vale. Skip the souvenir shop." Zwei barked and ran around the new area, happy to finally be on dry land.

"I expected it to be bigger." Mauve commented.

"This isn't the city of Vale. We're just in the kingdom. There's no direct ferry from Patch to the city. So we'll have to walk the rest of the way."

"How long will it take?"

Yang shrugged. "Less than a day, though it's pretty late already. We'll have to camp part way in."

Mauve didn't respond, but instead followed after her as she led the way through the small port town. It was a small but bustling place that might have seen more traffic if not for the attack on Vale and the lack of safety felt between the kingdoms.

It took them a few minutes to reach the gates of the small walls and a few more for the people on guard to open them.

"You should be careful out there." One of the guards warned. "More Grimm on the road as of late, ever since the White Fang attacked." The guard's eyes glanced toward Mauve.

"Why aren't there more Hunstmen?" Yang asked.

"Most Huntsman have been recalled to the city for protection and to hunt down remaining terrorist factions."

Yang nodded and dragged Mauve along with her before the guards could get more suspicious. Zwei barked, not far behind. It was about as bad as she imagined. She didn't expect people's spirits to be high after everything that had happened. Especially with the faunus.

"We aren't going to stop at the town for a bit?" Mauve asked.

"What's the point? We're still full on supplies and there's nothing else we need." It would be a waste of their already limited time. She wanted to be in the city of Vale at latest tomorrow in the early evening.

They marched on through the cold and snow.

* * *

Yang continued her march to Vale, even as her body shook from the cold. It wasn't that it was particularly windy. Just freezing cold. It had been like that during their entire journey and the approaching darkness of night only made it that much colder. Still, she pressed on, determined to get to Vale as soon as possible. Ruby and the others were risking their lives. She couldn't be bothered by a little bit of uncomfortable weather.

"We should set up camp."

She turned to face the smaller person with a none too pleasant expression on her face.

Mauve on the other hand seemed less determined.

"Why? I'm not tired."

The way he sighed and leaned his head to one side indicated that he didn't believe her.

"Well I am." Her gaze followed him as he walked right past her. He pointed a short distance off near some rocks. "We can camp near there. The rocks should provide some cover from any winds. Come on. It'll be cheaper and easier if we're well rested by the time we get to Vale." Without so much as glancing back to her, he moved toward his chosen destination.

Yang growled. She was about to argue but when she took a step forward, she felt the numbness of the cold start to move in. She had been keeping herself walking at a brisk yet steady rate. Heating her body with the movement. Now that she had stopped, the cold became all to apparent. Cursing at herself and realising she wouldn't be able to keep going, she followed after Mauve. Like Mauve said, it'd be better if they were well rested. Not that she'd admit that to him.

They cleared the surrounding snow near the large rocks before finally setting up camp. There were two tents set up across from one another on either side of the rocks. It was a good thing Mauve had brought his own tent because there was no way they were sharing one.

The fire was set up and she was in the process of making dinner. Or at least was trying to. Opening canned soup was hard with only one hand.

Mauve came back with a handful of logs and laid them to the side before taking a seat on the other side of the fire across from her.

She still fiddled with the can.

"Let me-"

Yang shot Mauve a glare, making him pause mid sentence before sighing and retracting his hand from helping her.

"I've got this." Yang placed the can between her feet to hold it in place. Her hand reached out and gripped the small hinge on the soup can before pulling. With one last grunt, the lid slid off. She gave a small smile and looked to the only other person with her before frowning. Right. It was just him.

She tossed the lid to the side before pouring the contents of the can into the small metal pot over the fire. She stirred the inside of the pot with a plastic spoon before glancing to Mauve. "Brought any rations?"

Mauve hummed and brought out what looked to be jerky of some kind before taking a bite out of it. She stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes. Whatever.

They waited in silence as the stew bubbled in the pot. The sound of fire flickering with the occasional wind was the only real noise between them. She moved her legs into a pretzel, rested her hand on her knee, and closed her eyes. She breathed in and out, listening to the burning wood as the pot boiling brought back memories of an earlier time. Both happy and sad.

She remembered when she and Ruby first arrived at Beacon. She wanted to help Ruby break out of her shell so she went for the blunt 'avoid her' method and hung out with some of her own friends. It worked out. Sort of. Ruby had met Jaune followed by… Weiss and Blake with her included. Ruby made friends and she still got to hang out with her sis. It was the best of both worlds.

She sighed at the memories before looking to the flames of the campfire. A sad smile crept up her face. Things seemed so much simpler back then. What she give to get it all back...

"You alright?"

The question snapped her out her thoughts and looked to the source. She sighed as Mauve sat there, staring at her with some jerky in hand.

"I'm fine."

"I wasn't sure if you were sleeping." Mauve said. "You sighed and were smiling, so…" Figured she had to be asleep to smile? He couldn't blame her. She couldn't remember the last time she smiled. Truly smiled, that was. She hadn't been given a reason to.

"I said I'm fine." Yang assured.

"Eat when the foods ready…" He looked toward the flames. "Then sleep."

She grunted and looked to the fire. Before she would hardly ever need to keep warm. She just was. Maybe it was part of her semblance or the fact that she had aura. Whatever the reason, she found herself bothered by the weather more and more and drawn toward the fire. However she had forced herself through it. To train through the cold and snow and build endurance. The cold still bothered her. She just ignored it.

Her eyes moved from the fire to the boy on the opposite end of it. She said boy and even though his height made him look younger, he was a year older than her. And what about him? He had decided to tag along when she was suppose to have snuck off in the night. Alone. Without anyone. Especially him yet here he was. It annoyed her to think about it and it annoyed her even more to admit that she might need some help on this mission. She looked to her hand and clutched it. She could take on grimm. She had as good as proven that. At least, a few of them. But if it came to someone of Mercury's level? She sighed, not wanting to think about it.

"I was thinking about Ruby." She said for some unknown reason. Maybe just to get her mind away from things. Even he seemed surprised that she was talking to him. "About cooking for her." She went on. "Soup specifically." The seconds went by and the sound of wood burning went on. Only when it was made painfully apparent that she was waiting for him to respond did he do so. But not before swallowing the food in his mouth.

"Why?"

Her head fell as she groaned. What was she expecting from him of all people? She breathed through her nose and out through her mouth to calm herself down. Getting agitated over stupid things was stupid of itself. Ugh, even that sounded stupid.

He continued. "Why wasn't your father cooking?"

She straightened herself out but still didn't meet his eyes. Instead, she looked into the fire. "It was shortly after Summer died…" It was quiet again. The flames the only constant noise that they both heard. Why was she even talking to him about this? It was stupid to-

"I only knew of Ruby after her mother had died." Mauve finally sounded. She glanced to him for a moment as he spoke. "It was still relatively recent. There were moments when she seemed… unhappy."

Yang straightened up as he continued.

"They weren't long moments. Just times when she seemed to be thinking. Then she was back, jumping around and speeding with her semblance."

Yang smiled at the image. He had said he met Ruby not long after she discovered her semblance. It had made caring for her a whole lot more challenging.

"Yea… she wasn't one to dwell on the past too long." Ruby always focused on moving forward.

"She was weird like that." Yang shot him a look but he ignored it. "She didn't act like most people."

"So she was...is a little awkward." Yang shrugged. "We're all a little weird."

"True." Mauve admitted. "But her in particular. She...was oddly altruistic."

Was he going somewhere with this? She couldn't tell if he was trying to insult her or not.

"She tended to ignore what others paid attention to." He went on. "Or maybe she was just oblivious to it."

"Like what?" Yang asked. It wasn't an inaccurate description of Ruby.

"I suppose there's this." A black tail with a purple tip laid lazily on his lap. "Slight interest aside, she didn't seem bothered by my faunus appendages."

"Are the people of Patch that bad?" Yang knew there were a few faunus around Patch and all things considered, got along fine. No real scuffles based on race or appearance.

"They're people." Mauve said, as if that was all he needed to say. "It doesn't matter." He shrugged it off before taking another bite of his jerky. She noticed his ears twitch ever so slightly. Wait…

"Why do you have two?" Mauve raised his head at the question.

"Two?" He repeated.

"Faunus traits." She motioned to the tail and then to the black canine like ears tinted slightly with purple atop his head. "You have two."

"Hm." He confirmed. "So?"

"A… friend of mine at Beacon was a faunus. She hat cat ears." Blake had told Yang a few facts about faunus during their time together. "She was a real bookworm. Knew a lot of stuff. Especially about her faunus heritage. One of the facts she mentioned were that Faunus have one animal trait." She motioned to his appendages again. "But you have two. Why is that?"

He stared at her for longer then she was comfortable before replying.

"Most faunus are born with one animal trait." He confirmed. "Though there are a few that are born with two."

"Two, huh?" Well, that was something. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Why do guys have nipples? Just the way it is."

"Hm…" Yang leaned forward and stirred the soup. Well, that killed a minute.

"How are we going to find her?"

Yang looked back to Mauve. "Who?"

"Ruby." He answered. "Even if you do get this information and even if it everything you hoped for and more, how do you intended to get it to her?"

Yang rested her chin on her arm as she looked back into the fire. He waited for her response. "I guess it depends on the information."

"How does it depend?" He pressed. "What does the contents of the information do to change our course of action? Do you not go straight to Ruby after the information is required regardless of what it entails?"

Yang grunted at his constant line of questions. What was with him? Couldn't he just take things one step at a time? Though she hated to admit he had a point. To get to Ruby, wherever she is would be a challenge. They knew where she was going. Mistral. Though that still left a lot of land. She figured it would be one of the major cities but even then…

Mauve was still waiting for her to reply.

"There might be one way…" She admitted. "My mom…"

"Raven?"

She nodded. After spending years with Ruby, she supposed it was only natural he had heard about Yang's mom. "She has this way of being able to get to places. To people…" She was able to get her dad to spill the beans about her mother's semblance. How she could connect with certain people and open up portals to their location wherever they were on Remnant. The one thing she hadn't been able to get him to spill was where exactly her mother was. Which sort of put the whole plan up in flames. "But I don't know how to get to her. Even if I _wanted_ to find her, we'd have no idea where to start."

"So, nothing then?"

For a guy who said so little, Mauve sure could make his words count. Count in annoying her. She breathed in through her nose and out her mouth before speaking. "They'll most likely be at Haven Academy in Mistral. At least, that's where they'll end up." It made the most sense. Before he could say something else in a condescending tone, she raised her hand to silence him. "She _will_ be at Haven and she will be there _before_ us. She has a large enough head start."

He went silent for a moment. "Remind me again how you plan to unlock the scroll."

Yang let out what must have been the fifth sigh this hour before straightening up. This was going to take a minute. "I know this guy in Vale. He goes by the name of Junior."

"You mentioned him before." Mauve recalled.

"He's the guy we're going to." Yang continued. "He owns a bar in a not so openly public place. He can get into Mercury's phone or at the very least point us to someone who can."

"And he's just going to do this for us?" He asked. "He's a friend of yours?"

"..." Yang took a moment to respond. "Sure. Maybe. Just don't lower your guard."

He sighed. "There's going to be fighting, isn't there?"

"No...probably not. Maybe." She waved her arm. "Look, he's the only lead I got and he can help." He had to. "We just gotta play our cards right."

"We?" His brow rose. "What do I do?"

"Absolutely nothing." Yang said. "Don't talk. Better you, wait outside when we get there." It would be easier if only she was there. She hoped.

That seemed to shut him up. If at least for the moment. There was no helping it. It was the best place she could think of. Once they got the info they could meet up with Ruby. If there were in the town of Haven Academy, then their scrolls should work well enough to get a signal through. All she had to do was get in the right town, make the call and meet up from there. That is, assuming Ruby didn't leave before she got there.

She gripped her right sleeve. No. _Relax._ Don't over do it. Thinking like that wouldn't get her anywhere. She had a plan and considering the situation, it's a pretty damn good plan.

 _Lowered expectations don't change things._ Yang shook her head of Mauve's earlier words from the other day. Forget what he said. What did he know? She knew she wasn't in the best condition but she was doing just fine. Get to Vale, find a hacker and go from there. It was simple and to the point. She didn't need to worry about anything.

She took a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. She was-

"The soup."

Yang's head snapped toward the pot which was starting to boil with steam coming out. Crap! She grabbed the pot by the handle but even that burned a bit. She quickly placed the pot on the floor before blowing on her hand.

Zwei, sensing some trouble and no doubt able to smell the soup, stormed out from inside her tent to her side. He let out a bark.

"I'm fine." She assured the canine before letting out a sigh. Cheap pot.

"Was this how you cooked for Ruby?"

She threw a rock none too gently toward his head. Sadly, he avoided it.

"Just eat your jerky." She lightly grasped the handle of the pot to check if it was still hot. When that proved alright, she felt for the top. The partly snowy floor had cooled it down. Satisfied, she brought the pot into her lap and used a different spoon from before and brought it to her lips. She blew on it a few times before taking a bite. She let out a sigh of pleasure from the warm feeling of the stew before taking another. She heard a whine from her side.

She glanced toward Zwei who was panting and wagging his tail. He let out a bark.

Yang sighed. "Alright. Spare me the puppy eyes." They were almost as effective as Ruby's look. She fumbled with her bag before taking out a small bowl and pouring some of the soup into it. "I didn't pack rations for a dog you know." Zwei however ignored her and happily lapped at the warm thick liquid.

He'd become extra spoiled with the meals she had given her before she left home. His stomach probably grew a little. He'd be disappointed at the lack of dog biscuits on this trip.

She finished her plate quick enough and let out a sigh.

"Done?" Mauve asked. Some jerky still in his hand.

She gave a lazy hum in answer.

"You should sleep then. I'll take first watch."

"Hm." She couldn't bring up the strength to argue. She wasn't even sure she wanted to. Eating that soup made he sleepy. All that marching through the snow didn't help either. She got to her feet and crouched into the tent.

Maybe sleep would do her some good.

"I hate you."

Yang repeated for what was probably the hundredth time during their early day march to Vale. Or at least it was supposed to be in the early day. It was way passed noon! The sky even started to grow dark from it's orange glow as the sun slowly began to set. She had overslept! And she blamed Mauve.

"I said I'd take the first watch." Mauve sounded uncaringly as he marched right behind her.

"You never woke me up!"

"And I took watch. You can take first watch the next time."

"That is not how it works!" Her eyes flashed red when she faced him. She closed them and tried to relax. _In through the nose. Out through the mouth._ Her eyes were back to their natural lilic.

"My bad. Now I know." He didn't sound sincere at all. She opened her mouth to speak. "So, these are the walls of Vale." The words had her pause as she directed her attention to where Mauve was looking.

Yang stood there for a moment and took it all in. The snow made it look a little different but there was no mistaking it. The kingdom of Vale. After all this time. Just the sight of it brought so many memories back. Innocent memories. Happy memories. Bad memories. She clutched her aching chest as images passed through her mind. She fought back the tears that threatened to break loose. Taking a deep breath, Yang walked forward.

"Come on. We've wasted enough time."

As they got closer and closer to the city walls, Yang noticed all the extra security. There were soldiers with machine guns on the walls and soldiers at the entrance of the gates. There were large crowds. Some of the gates on the far sides had people going into the city of Vale but most looked like they were moving out. She was honestly surprised there were as many people coming to Vale as there was. Maybe the outlying villages and smaller towns couldn't support people. Or maybe they were destroyed.

She decided not to think about it. She couldn't change any of those problems so there was no point on dwelling on it.

"Hold on." She took a pair of binoculars from her bag and looked toward the crowd entering the city. "Looks like they're checking ID's." It made sense with the tighter security. Maybe they were only accepting people that could help around the city? She wondered if that meant they might get turned down. There was only one way to find out.

"Wait." Yang turned to Mauve when he grabbed her shoulder. "Where are we going?"

"Um, Vale." She motioned to the city. "You know, the place we talked about the other day."

"Can't."

Yang fought the urge to argue so went with asking a simple question. "Why?"

"I don't have an ID."

"Excuse me?" She stared at him for a moment. "Just use your scroll. That should be enough." She turned back towards Vale. Hopefully they wouldn't be turned down after waiting in the crowded line for however long.

"I don't have one."

Yang turned back to the smaller than average faunus. "You can not be serious." If this was a joke, she was not amused. "How can you not have a scroll?"

"I never got one." Was his simple reply.

"And you don't have any ID?"

"Sort of an orphan."

A tinge of sympathy shot through Yang. With the cave he called a house and the absence of anyone else, she figured as much.

"Great…" She looked to the city and then to Mauve before rubbing her head through her hair. "Come on. Think…" They'd gotten this far and they were so close. She stared toward the city if only so Mauve wouldn't see how frustrated she was. It was questionable enough to let two teens into the city but one without a license and a faunus at that? There was no way they would be let in.

Yang took a deep breath. There was only one choice.

* * *

"Sneaking in was relatively easy."

"Just keep your hood up."

They had managed to sneak past the sentries and get into the city undetected. She was a bit worried on what the security really meant if they could get in. Well, she couldn't exactly complain. She glanced back to Mauve and saw that he still had his hood up from his bag. Good. With the White Fang's attack on the academy, even the nicest of people would be on guard when talking to a faunus. Best to avoid any conflicts. Hopefully that coat would cover the tail well enough.

"So, what next?" Mauve asked.

Yang glanced around the area. It was a bit odd to see but everyone seemed calm enough for the situation. She shouldn't be surprised. People couldn't be freaking out twenty four seven. The town otherwise wouldn't be able to function.

"First we find a place to crash." She wanted to go straight to Junior but she had to make sure they had a place to stay. If only for a day. Maybe two tops. Hopefully Junior would be able to help them out by then. "Hm…"

"Something up?"

"Trying to remember where the hotels and inns were." It had been a while so things felt a little foggy. "Hold up." She moved toward the closest person. "Excuse me. Do you know a place where I could check in?"

"Hm?" A young man with black hair looked at her. His eyes lingered at her stub for a moment before focusing on her again. It was to be expected. "Oh, eh yea. How long are you planning on staying?"

"Just a day. Maybe two."

The man nodded. "There's this place, it's a bit far away but cozy enough. Has an inn like style."

Yang nodded and mentally took down the information as he went on.

"Have… we met before?"

"I… don't think so?" Was he coming on to her? Part of her almost felt flattered that people would still think that way of her. But he seemed sincere in his confusion as he looked at her with squinted eyes. As if it was on the tip of his tongue. He seemed to find it and the results didn't look pleasant. His body immediately seemed to tense up, He took a step back.,

"Nevermind. I have to go."

"What was that about?" Mauve came up behind her as the man left before he could say anything. He wasn't the only one confused.

"I'm… not sure." She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Got the directions for a place to stay. Let's go."

They eventually made it to the inn. The first floor was pretty large. The interior was all wood with several wooden tables and chairs to the side along with a tv hanging on the wall. Yang walked toward the sign in desk and asked the man behind the counter for a room for two. She'd honestly prefer a room for herself but they had limited funds.

"How long will you be staying?" The man asked. He had grey and silver hair with a fair tan. Though he definitely wasn't fragile if his muscles were any indication.

"Today for sure. Maybe tomorrow. Is there a charge if I add a day later on?"

"No charge. Each day is the same cost."

Yang nodded and took the key to the room. She walked over to Mauve who was helping himself to a glass of complimentary water on one of the tables.

"They have room?" Mauve asked.

"Yea." Yang took a sear across from him. "Got us a room for today. Depending on how it goes with Junior, may book us for another day." Hopefully it wouldn't be longer than that.

"We going right now?"

Yang sighed. "In a minute." She didn't want to admit it but camping outside really made her uncomfortable. The cold combined with the ache in her arm and daily migraines made it difficult to just move around so much. Still, she wouldn't give up. Not when she had finally decided get out of her depression and act.

She ruffled through her bag before taking out a small plastic bottle. She held it tight before forcing the lid open with her thumb. She then poured three pills, half white half green on the table before downing them with some water.

"What's that?"

Yang swallowed and wiped her mouth with her arm before letting out a sigh. "Medicine for my migraines."

"Didn't know you took pills."

"I usually take them after our sparring sessions," she answered. Normally after he left. She didn't exactly want anyone to know she was on medication. Though his opinion of her wasn't exactly on the list of things she cared about. She took another sip of her water. "Got any lien on you?"

"A bit." he answered. "Though not much. Can probably pay for part of the room."

"Hm…" Yang chugged down the rest of her water. They weren't exactly swimming in money. They had enough food for another week or so. Well, for herself anyway. She didn't account for Mauve and Zwei to tag along. Though Mauve seems to have brought some food for himself. She doubted they get go particularly far with what they had. Mistral was a long way from Vale. There was always hunting. Not exactly her style but she could make do. Mauve could probably track some animals with his enhanced sense of smell. Whatever the case, they'd manage.

Wanting an excuse to stay seated for another minute longer, she glanced around before her eyes fell to the tv at the top edge of the room. The news was on. She hadn't been watching the new for weeks. Though she wouldn't be surprised if there was nothing but lists casualties and pessimism reported. It had been a while though. Maybe things had stabilized a little.

" _-and it seems negotiations have gotten to the point of exchanging delegations."_

The news reported Lisa Lavender was on the screen. She was outside in what looked like Vale. Behind here was a crowd as they seemed to be gathering around for something.

" _Behind me will soon be landing the first officially accepted group of diplomats since before the fall of Beacon Academy. Extra security has been taken as a company of Vale guards stand at attention, holding off the wave of people eager to see the Atlas representatives."_

Atlas were sending diplomats to Vale? Well, that definitely sounded like progress. Yang straightened up as the report went on.

" _While there are no doubt mixed feelings of Atlas people coming into Vale territory, what has everyone in a stir is the main representative that will be arriving."_

Some big shot? She didn't know that diplomats could be famous. Then again, she didn't study up on politics even before Beacon. It was _politics_. A bunch of people using big words that were sometimes left purposely ambiguous or precise. There was no real reason to try and understand too much. Besides, she was seventeen. She might be a bit different then most people her age, but she still got bored and confused like any other.

Yang rocked herself in her seat as the droning went on. Just then, something seemed to catch Lisa's eye as she looked to something off screen.

The camera panned toward said ship. The camera shook in place for a moment before coming into focus. It certainly looked uniqure what with its sleek design and the color of grey shouted Atlas. The only other color that could be seen were some long thin blue flags that were attached to the ships wings of which there were four of. They were grey at the roots near the wings but turned blue further down.

Yang didn't think much of it first. A vague feeling of familiarity went through her mind at the sight of the ship. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. That is, till the aircraft finally docked.

She leapt from her seat, causing it to fall over. The individual on the ship came into view with two Atlas robots flanking her.

" _Here she is, folks. Atlas' newest representative and ambassador…"_

For a second, she dared not hope. It had to be someone else. Anyone else. It just couldn't be. But as the young, pale skinned and white haired girl descended down the ramp and onto solid ground, the image only became more clear. The diplomats name being announced confirmed it without a shadow of a doubt. Even after all that, she still couldn't believe it.

" _Weiss Schnee."_

* * *

 **So, that happened. Hopefully I can do a more steady posting schedule even if it is once a month.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, only a little after a month and I updated. Good timing for me. This chapter is longer than others so hope you all like. As always, please comment. Whether it's on the latest chapter or a previous one, I always appreciate feedback of any kind. Gimme dem comments.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur al'Aran_

 **Chapter 11**

* * *

Yang ran.

She ran as fast as her legs could manage. She ran with such haste that she almost pulled a muscle. She paid little attention to the handful of times she nearly tripped and ran into someone. Some people yelled at her. She didn't pay it any mind. Didn't listen when her name was called out. Probably Mauve but she didn't look back to confirm. She just ran and ran toward the docks.

Why the hell was Weiss here? No, scratch that. She knew why; it had been explained on the TV. She just didn't know why. As in, why Weiss of all people? Part of her still couldn't believe it was really her. Wouldn't believe it was really her till Yang saw her with her own eyes. She would do more than just stare obviously. What exactly she'd do, she wasn't sure yet but she had to do something.

She made a turn around the corner of a building and nearly fell on her face. Having one arm made running difficult. Loss of balance was easy but she didn't let up. She had to get to the bullhead docks. She had to see Weiss with her own eyes in person.

Her frantic gaze looked right then left when she arrived at the docks. Where was she? She had to be here. The ship she arrived in was here so she had to be nearby. All her calming techniques she had tried in the past couple months threatened to break. She had to find Weiss. She just had to.

Her ears then perked up when she heard a small group of people mentioned about Atlas. One of the people pointed toward one direction while pleading for the others to hurry. She ran right for it. A few minutes later she could see a crowd of people. She had to be close.

By the time she arrived, they were all huddled around some large, fancy hotel. Yang didn't pay it or the people much thought as she dived on in, shouting out the Heiress' name as she went further in. She squirmed her way through the tightly packed crowd toward the front. She saw a security escort. Two robots and two men. She also saw…

"WEISS!" Yang shouted her name even louder as she pushed her way past the last of the crowd and toward the very front. "Weiss!" Yang scrambled forward past the last of the crowd before two guards came forward to bard her way. "Weiss!" A guard was on either side of her, holding her back. She reached out with her hand toward the heiress. "Weiss!"

The heiress halted in her walk, only a few steps from entering the hotel. She glanced over her shoulder and Yang felt their eyes meet. She saw a flicker of recognition in those light-blue eyes before they suddenly dimmed. They stared at each other for what felt like forever but only lasted a brief moment. And then, just like that, Weiss turned and walked through the hotel doors before they closed.

Yang stood there for a moment, arm still outstretched and eyes at the door till he was pushed back by the guards. The wave of people slowly nudging her around till she was at the very back and out of crowd. She staggered in place for a moment before falling on her knees. She heard someone shouting over the crowd to gain some order of attention. She just stayed there, gaze on the floor as she went over what just happened.

Weiss had seen her. They looked each other both in the eyes and she just… turned her back and walked away. Without so much as a word.

"I'm going to go now…" She recalled Weiss' final words before they separated those months ago. "I promise I'll be back."

Yang also recalled her own last words in response. Only two words.

"Don't bother…"

She sat there for who knows how long, hand gripping golden locks as she used her breathing techniques to try and calm down. It didn't work. Weiss. She had looked straight at her, knew it was her. There was no doubt about that with the look in her eyes. She had looked at her, recognised her, and then turned away as if she was nothing.

Yang tried hard not to let buried memories resurface but she couldn't stop them. She recalled how Ruby had left with Jaune, Nora and Ren. All the obvious clues and hints flew over her head. Ruby was trying to motivate her. To get her back on her feet and she just shrugged it off. Practically told Ruby to go on without her.

A hand curled tighter in golden locks as another memory came. One she had been trying so desperately to avoid. At least with Weiss, she had a chance to mess things up. Weiss had only left when Yang made it clear she wasn't wanted. Her partner… she didn't even give her the courtesy of that. Yang slammed her fist to the ground so hard the concrete cracked. The last time she saw her former partner was when she rushed headlong to smash in the mask of the red haired bastard. It cost her an arm and would have been worth it if…

Her fist kept hitting the same section of concrete again and again. More and deep cracks forming with each blow. Her aura stopped any serious damage but she wished it didn't. The pain would help her focus on something else besides the hole in her heart. Would help her forget that woman.

Her body collapsed in on itself. She might have broken down completely if she didn't remind herself she was in a public place. The last thing she wanted was a crowd of strangers to see her in such a state.

"You alright?"

And she especially didn't want him to see her like this. With a small sniffle, Yang rubbed her face of any wandering tears and stood up. "I'm fine." She cleared her throat. "Just fine." She refused to look at him.

"What now?" If Mauve noticed anything, and he almost certainly did, he didn't press the subject. Good.

"We go back to the inn."

"We're not going to see this Junior guy of yours?"

"Tomorrow." Yang said. "We'll go tomorrow." She didn't feel like talking to Junior today, or anyone for that matter. Thankfully, Mauve followed without protest.

* * *

Yang hadn't technically lied when she said they would go tomorrow. It was past twelve at night and so was the next day. She just came a little earlier than expected. Alone. And maybe a little drunk. She'd been drunk on a few occasions before, mostly just because she was trying to have fun, but she always knew when enough was enough. She never got to the point where someone could take advantage of her. All things considered, she was pretty responsible with alcohol.

"Another."

This wasn't one of those times.

"You sure?" Junior gave her a look of uncertainty as he cleaned one of the many shot glasses she had drank so far. The glare she sent shut him up. "Another round. Right away, sir."

Junior remembered her from their last two encounters. She wasn't someone who you forgot, not with the impression she made. She'd given the scroll to Junior before deciding to get hammered, and he said he would look into it later. Right now, she was just a customer who wanted to get drunk and forget. Very, very drunk.

She tried a Strawberry Sunrise first, until she realized there wasn't nearly enough alcohol in it, and so went for something stronger. She wasn't sure exactly what it was called. All she knew was that it was white, murky like water and had a strong taste that burned down her throat. That was good enough for her. Was this her seventh or eighth? She'd lost track.

The Malachite sisters had sent her a glare when she first arrived. They hadn't forgotten the impression she left on them either, or on their faces. They looked like they were going to fight her at first but that died as quickly as it appeared when they noticed her stump. They sat down and didn't bother her. More's the pity. A fight would have taken her mind off things. Just meant she had to drink more.

And drink she did.

"Another."

Junior sighed but did so. "So, Blondie. You wanna tell me why you're getting hammered in my bar?" His gaze toward her right spoke of an unasked question.

"Bad day." Was Yang's response. She downed another shot and felt her body shiver at the cold yet sizzling liquid. Why hadn't she tried this before? Drinking seemed to take the edge off. Though if her uncle Qrow was any indication, she would pay for it in the morning. That was fine.

"I can see that…" Junior started to clean another of her cups. "Figured you'd have moved back home after the Beacon incident."

"Did." Another shot. "I came back." Stupidly. No. That wasn't right. Coming here she had a goal. Still did. Just… complications were added. Well, more complications. Yang hiccuped before slouching against the bar. "A-Another…"

"I think you've had enough." Junior shelved the bottle.

"I-I've only had, like, ten. Max"

"Try sixteen." Junior corrected.

Hey eyes glanced to the stack of shot glasses to the side.

"I-I can pay." She hiccuped again. She had the money. Probably.

"I remember what you did to my bar when you were sober. Rather not see what you can do drunk."

"Making a drunk girl angry isn't exactly a good idea either." She noticed the Malachite twins shift a little in their seats to the side. Waiting for her to do something? Not like she could cause much damage as is.

"Here. Try this." Junior places down a cup with clear see through liquid in it. Yang gazed at it for a moment before downing it.

"Blah!" Her face scrunched up and tongue stuck out in disgust. "What is it?"

"Water."

She pushed the cup away. "Your tap is disgusting."

"Bottled water." Junior explained. "Usually a bad sign when clean water is considered disgusting. You've had enough."

Yang gritted her teeth before swinging her arm through the bar table, causing the glass of water to shatter on the floor. She could feel her eyes flashing red.

"The fuck do you know?! You don't know me! Why do you even care? You get paid, don't you?"

She felt her body start to heat up and caught movement at the edge of her vision. The twins had risen from their seats. So now they wanted to fight? Good.

"You wanna piece of me?" She turned to face the twins and nearly tripped over her own feet.

"Seems like someone already took one."

Yang wasn't sure which one said that but she'd beat the crap out of both. Just to be safe.

"Enough!" Junior slammed a glass down on the table, causing silence to penetrate the noise of the club. "Girls, keep your thoughts to yourselves. Blondie." Her red eyes flashed to him. "Calm down." He motioned for her to have a seat. "You're drunk. Take it easy. We aren't your enemies."

She held his gaze for a few seconds before glancing back to the twins. They looked annoyed but ended up walking toward the other side of the club. Yang grunted before taking a seat back down. Her hand gripping her forehead and some locks of hair.

"Drink."

Junior sighed. "Blondie"

"Sir." Yang corrected.

Junior frowned. "It might be best if you went home for the night. This may be a nightclub but even I have to close up at some point."

Yang grunted and glanced away before grabbing her bag. She rummaged through it before taking out a plastic bottle. She poured several pills on the table before picking them up. "Water." Junior stared at her for a second before getting a cup and filling it with water before sliding it to her. She downed the pills before drinking the entire cup. It tasted foul.

She let out a deep breath in disgust before slumping against the bar. She shut her eyes, just trying to breath like she had been taught. In through the nose, out through the mouth. She could feel Junior's gaze still on her. She sighed. "Too far away. I'll go later." Right now, she just wanted to lay here.

"Not far away enough for me to come here." A familiar voice sounded.

"Fuck…" She cursed, already feeling the migraine getting worse. Mauve was the last thing she needed right now.

"Friend of yours?" Junior's asked and she might have imagined it but she thought there was the faintest concern behind his voice. He cared. How sweet.

"Not exactly." Yang heard him take a seat beside her. "Traveling asshole associate. More by necessity then choice. Actually, more by blackmail than anything else."

"I'd hardly call it blackmail."

"You threatened to tell my dad!" Yang growled, head snapping up.

"Inform." He corrected. She saw his face contort in disgust. "You stink."

"And you suck." She took in another deep breath before exhaling. "Drinking will do that to you." She lazily lifted a shot glass in indication in hopes Junior would fill it. No such luck. Damn. "How'd you even find me? I didn't tell you where this place was." His faunus smelling could not be that good.

"Your dog." Mauve explained before motioning behind himself. Her eyes trailed to Zwei who was happily panting some feet away. He barked when she saw him. "Woke me up. Sniffed you out and dragged me along." By the sound of his tone, Zwei did so in a none too gentle way. Good.

"Hm…" Yang lifted her face so she was facing the bar, her chin resting on top of her arm. "So, not gonna leave?"

"Your dog probably wouldn't let me. Not without you." She heard him shift in place. "Is this the guy you were talking about?"

"Yea." She answered. "This is him."

"Shouldn't you hand over the scroll?"

"I did." She informed with a quick snap of her fingers. "Says it'll take a while."

"A guy of mine that can help is out for the day." Junior explained. "Can probably get it done for you by tomorrow."

"And in the meantime, you're...drinking."

"Yep." She smacked her lips to keep wet. "Well, drank... Drunk. Not drinking anymore." She glared Junior's way.

"Doing you a favor." Junior didn't even look her way as he cleaned another cup. It also helped avoid the nice little signal she gave him with her middle finger.

"So are we continuing with the plan or not?" Mauve asked. "Whatever that is now."

Yang glanced down at her empty glass. "There isn't much to do till tomorrow. Just wasting my time till then.

"By getting wasted."

"Well, not anymore." She eyed the drinks on the cabinets. "You can go back to the inn. I'm gonna stick around her a bit longer."

"I can't. Your dog."

"Afraid of a little dog?" She mocked.

"More like bothered and annoyed." He corrected. She felt his gaze on her. "That girl from before. The one you were chasing and shouting her name. She a friend?"

Surprisingly to herself, she didn't snap at the probing.

"Yea, or at least she was…" She rested her head in her hand against the bar. "Today confirmed otherwise. We're no longer friends or teammates."

"She told you that?"

"It was more what went unsaid." She explained. "I rushed past the crowd and our eyes met. She recognized me and then just walked inside the hotel without so much as a word or glance back."

"You sure she recognized you?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Yang snapped. Mauve didn't look bothered. "I'm not exactly plain looking." Especially now. "I saw the recognition in her eyes. She realized it was me and decided to ignore me. And maybe I deserve it…" She shuffled in place so she was looking away from Mauve.

"How do you figure?"

Yang let out a raspy sigh. It was probably the intoxication that let her talk about this. Maybe she felt she needed to say everything out loud then just think it. "After the brunt from the fall of Beacon, me and Weiss got into a fight. I wasn't in the best mindset and maybe she wasn't either, but things were said and…" Her hand tightened. "We didn't exactly end on good terms."

"Bad enough to no longer be friends?"

Yang slumped in her seat. "I guess so…"

Silence filled their corner of the bar for a while.

"Don't people get hangovers after drinking too much?" Mauve suddenly asked, seeming sincerely unsure.

"Well, yea. They tend to." She glanced his way. "What, don't drink?" He didn't seem the type to give a fuck about rules. Then again, he probably couldn't get anyone to buy the drink for him and he didn't look like the party kind of guy.

"Not alcohol." He answered. "Recall Ruby mentioning about her uncle always getting drunk. It turned me off it."

Yea. As oblivious as Ruby could be most of the time, they had both realised at an early age what it looked like to be drunk. On the rare occasions Qrow would be asked to babysit them, it would often be they who tucked him into bed and cleaned up.

"So, you've never had a drink before?" Yang asked to clarify.

"Not alcohol." Mauve repeated.

"Well then…" Yang motioned to Junior who gave her a look. She sighed, making Mauve lean back from the smell of her breath before she nudged toward her right. Junior seemed to understand and with some reluctance, filled a shot glass. "Here." She slid it in front of Mauve. "Take it. Down it in one go."

"What is it?"

Yang let out another sigh to Mauve's discomfort. "Alcohol. Now drink." Not everyday you got to see someone take their first shot.

"I'd rather not." He nudged the drink away, seeming hesitant to even touch it. "From what Ruby told me, getting drunk isn't pleasant."

It might have been adorable if it was anyone else. "You don't get drunk from one shot. Unless you can't hold your liquor."

"How do we find out?"

She motioned the glass toward him again.

Mauve sighed. "Fine."

He took the drink in hand before raising it to his face. He took small whiff before his face twisted in disgust. "It smells."

"It's alcohol. It's suppose to smell. Now drink."

Mauve hesitated for another few seconds before he downed the drink in one go. The reaction was instant. His tail shot up and his ears stood at attention. He gripped his chest as he started to cough and eventually wheeze.

She couldn't take it anymore. A snicker passed her lips before she out right laughed. A hand clutching her gut as he continued to cough and pound his chest.

"W-" He tried to clear his throat. "Water!"

Junior held out a glass of said liquid before Mauve drank it all in one gulp. He let out a loud sigh of relief before slumping in his seat. "The hell… was that?"

Yang was still in the midst of her laugh and continued to do so for another half minute or so before calming down. "A-alcohol." She let out a sigh of her own before rubbing a tear from her eye.

"More like poison." He motioned for another glass of water. "Nice to know my suffering amuses you." He drank the second cup in one go before asking for another. "Done moping?"

"Not really." She snickered, getting any remaining laughs out of her system. "That was just a momentary diversion." But now everything that sucked was coming back. Like her whole life.

Mauve sighed, rubbing a hand through his black and purple locks. His eyes remained straight toward the liquor bottles. "So…" he began. "You went through all that trouble of getting to this former friend, former teammate of yours and one look is all it took to discourage you?" He let out another sigh. "You really are hopeless."

A half empty bottle alcohol struck Mauve across the head. He didn't budge, aura most likely taken the brunt of the damage. Still had to have hurt.

"Fuck. You." Yang clearly and loudly emphasized each word with complete and utter hatred. "Don't judge me. You don't have the right."

Mauve got some napkins from the side before drying what he could off himself. The smell seemed to bother him more then the actual blow. He sighed.

"If you want something that badly, you gotta work for it."

"What would you know?" Yang scoffed.

"Something Ruby told me once." he explained. "I thought at first she said you had to stink, then she clarified it meant working hard."

Yang paused. "So?"

Mauve rubbed his head. "You really wanna help Ruby, that's obvious. What you don't seem to really want to do is help yourself." He motioned his hand from one direction to the other. "This look probably meant that. I did this so this person probably hates me. Wouldn't it be easier to face this friend, former or otherwise, and just, I don't know, talk?"

"What would be the point of that?" Yang asked.

Mauve let out a overemphasised sigh before slumping against the bar. "To get all this anger out for one. Maybe get some closure or whatever. I'm not very good at this, but that sounds like something Ruby would say. I think anything would be better than moping around here drinking this crap."

"Hey…" Junior sounded hurt but did a one eighty and walked away at Yang's glare.

"Just go up and talk to her?" Yang asked. "Just like that?"

"There's probably security around." Maue reminded. "But yea. Demand to talk to her. Fight your way through if you have to. Whatever. Just do something."

Yang stared at him for a long moment. Hand tightening around the top of the broken bottle to the point it shattered in her hand.

"You're a real dick, you know that?"

"You've called me a few things. However, I believe that's the first time you've called me that."

Yang rose from her seat and slammed some lien on the bar. "For the bottle…" She lurched toward the side before straightening up and looking over her shoulder. "You coming?"

Mauve raised a wet brow. "You want me to come with?"

"Not really." Yang admitted. "But someone has to make sure I don't back out. Or black out." she added, thinking on how much she'd drunk.

He stared at her for another moment. For someone who was struck of the head by a glass bottle, he was surprisingly calm. With a finale sigh, he rose to his feet. "Alright."

Now where was Zwei?

Yang's answer came in the form of giggles. To the side, Zwei was barking and panting as he licked the Malachite twins giggling faces.

For fucks sake...

* * *

Yang expected there to be guards outside the hotel just like before. There weren't. She glanced from one edge of the hotel to the other. Nothing. "No security Think they're inside?"

"Hm…" Mauve hummed, sounding unsure himself.

It was still pretty dark, the sun a couple hours from fully rising. Even so, she thought there'd at least be those Atlas machines out. Then again, having the same machines that were partly responsible for the fall of Beacon probably wasn't't the best political choice. Which meant that they had to be inside.

With no further reason to hesitate, Yang walked through the front door.

The building was brightly lit, as was to be expected of a fancy hotel at night. The walls were red with a sort of beige stripe running through the middle of the walls. A red and golden rug running all the way down to the hotel check-in desk. Some chairs and tables at the sides of the large room.

What Yang found most out of place was the lack of people. The entire room was empty. Even the front desk didn't have anyone to welcome you.

"Weird…" Yang did another onceover of the room before walking to the desk. She rang the call bell on the table and waited for a response. "Hello?" She looked around the room once more. "Where is everyone?"

"Maybe they rented the whole place?" Mauve guessed.

"There should at least be someone here. Even if the staff were removed, there'd be Atlas personnel or someone." Yang didn't like it.

She jumped over the desk to the otherside to reach the check-in book there, but nearly fell over before grabbing the desk for support. Maybe facing Weiss while she was drunk wasn't the best idea but then again, she'd probably back out if she was sober.

Looking over the cubbies against the wall, Yang searched for the sign in book. Hopefully Weiss had gone through the same procedures as everyone else and signed in with her room number. It would save a lot of trouble. Now if she could just find it.

"Looking for this?" Yang turned around to see Mauve holding a book with signatures and room numbers.

"Where'd you find it?" Yang grabbed the book and slid it over the sign in table before skimming through the pages for Weiss' name.

"On the floor."

"The floor? Why would it be-"

Yang's eyes widened as she looked between two particular pages. "Mauve…" Yang said slowly. "Did you by chance rip a page when grabbing the book?"

Please say yes.

"No."

Fuck.

Yang ran towards the stairs at full speed, not bothering with a response when her name was called. Shitshitshit. No guards at the front desk. No one inside. And now a page from the log book was ripped out. "This cannot be for real."

Yang was not that unlucky. She gave a quick glance to her right. Okay. Maybe she was that unlucky.

She made a sharp turn when she got to the second floor and cursed when the next flight of stairs was at the other end of the hall. She nearly tripped when she continued her pace before Mauve finally caught up to her.

"Yang, what's the rush?"

"I think Mercury is going to assassinate Weiss." It sounded crazy but the more she thought about it, the more Yang believed it was true.

"The guy we fought at your house?" Mauve asked. "When? Why?"

Yang made another hard turn and rushed up the stairs to the third floor.

"Right now." Yang felt herself slip over her own legs several times but kept righting herself. Running while drunk was a really bad idea. She kept running. "There were no guards out front or anyone inside. The book had a page ripped out. I'm guessing that's where Weiss is."

"Then how do you know which room she's in?"

"The pages were in floor level order." She explained. The page between two and four were missing. "Weiss' room should be on floor three." They just entered the third floor and laying in the open were two atlesian guards. Yang didn't check if they were alive. There was no time.

"Help me bust this door open." They had to surprise whoever was inside. Mauve nodded and the two took several steps back before both kicking at the door, forcing it off its hinges and wide open.

The scene was both relieving and horrifying. Relief because she saw Weiss was alive. Horrifying because Mercury was there and had Weiss up against the wall with her weapon nowhere to be seen. Busting the door open seemed like the right move since it caught Mercury momentarily off guard by the stare he was giving them. Yang took advantage of that and charged forward, eyes red.

The shock quickly passed as Mercury threw Weiss to the side and countered her punch with his leg. He jumped and struck her gut in mid air sending Yang stumbling back. She saw Mauve from the corner of her eye rush forward. It took her a moment to get up from the alcohol along with all the sudden running. She was probably in the worst possible condition to fight but she had to. Weiss' life was on the line.

Yang was back on her feet and saw that Mauve was holding his own against Mercury. His hips were forward, legs squared, and his guard was high.

The stance left Mauve's ribs wide open which Mercury took advantage of with a roundhouse kick. Mauve, however, raised his knee up to his elbow and checked it. When Mercury struck the opposite leg, Mauve raised his other leg for another parry. On the third block, Mauve took a half step forward with his leading leg and countered with a knee to Mercury's side. That sent the assassin back and clutching his side.

Mercury had given up on roundhouse kicks and went for a straight kick to the teeth. Mauve caught the kick with both hands and held the foot against his chest. That was when Yang saw her chance and acted.

She clutched her fist with all her anger. Thinking back to all the damage Mercury had caused her and others close to her. Thought about all the people who had died at the fall of Beacon. She harnessed all of her hate into one punch and unleashed it across Mercury's jaw.

She saw his aura flare in protection and while she didn't think one blow would get rid of it, she knew she did some damage with that blow. Mauve had released his leg at impact, allowing Mercury's body to twist back and slam against the wall.

"Nice timing." Mauve complemented as he moved to her side.

"Thanks for the opening." Yang returned. She clenched and unclenched her fist. Her hand and head hurt but she was still standing.

Mercury rubbed his chin and tried clenching it only to winse. His gaze was now firmly set on her.

"You little-" He advanced forward and Yang readied herself only for a a row of ice spikes to appear between them.

Yang's gaze followed towards the source and landed on a proud looking Weiss who had her weapon in hand. She gave Yang a nod. She… didn't know what to make of that so she focused on Mercury.

He looked between Weiss and them and started to realise he was in a bad position. He took a half step back before running for the window.

"No you don't!" Yang rushed after him.

"Wait!" Weiss shouted.

Mercury swung around with a kick to her side, sending her flying to the wall beside Weiss. Yang coughed and tried to get right back up only to feel a rush of pain through her head and stump.

Of all times, now?

"Sorry blondie." Mercury hopped on the window and gave a cocky smirk. "Maybe next time-"

A mix of pink, brown, and white flashed from the window and crashed into Mercury, sending him skidding on the ground. A pair of heels caught his wrists, holding him in place. Yang could see the corners of a grin that spread from cheek to cheek.

Mercury tried to get up but the heels dug into his wrists, causing him to wince. Even with aura, something pointy sticking into you hurt. Neo already had her blade out which she raised in the air.

"Wa-"

Mercury didn't get a chance to finish. With a ferocious snarl and flashing eyes, Neo struck down - again and again and again, until with a crack, the assassin's aura shattered. It happened in the flash of an eye, in an instant, but Neo's blade rose and fell one final time.

And the tiles were splashed with blood.

Neo panted. Her heavy breathing didn't seem to be because of weariness but adrenaline and excitement. Her eyes flashed toward Yang and the others. The usual heterochromatic eyes now a pair of grey bore into her lilic ones. She felt unable to look away in fear Neo might attack them next.

It was the stomping of footsteps that had Yang glance toward the door. Atlas security? Her eyes went back to Neo only to find her gone. Her eyes glanced left and right only to find no trace of the girl.

* * *

 **So… anyone lost?**


	12. Chapter 12

**I yet still live. Thanks for the few that commented on the last chapter. Here we go.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 12**

* * *

"Atlas forces! Nobody move!"

Atlesian soldiers and robots burst into the room, weapons aimed at Yang and Mauve. They filled the room with their numbers and cut the two off from Weiss.

Yang couldn't bring herself to react to any of it. She stared blankly at Mercury's body, and where Neo once stood. Her mind struggled to catch up to the events that just took place. Mercury was dead. His motionless body was all the proof that she needed but it wasn't because of her, Mauve, or Weiss. It was Neo. The only question was, why?

"-down!"

Yang's mind finally snapped from its trance and looked around at the scene. Atlas guards filled her vision and had their weapons pointed at her.

"W…" Yang tried to speak. No. They weren't the bad guys. A quick flash of the tournament battle with Mercury filled her mind. No. Not again. They didn't do anything wrong!

The soldiers tensed and looked like they were about to shoot.

"STOP!"

The screech seemed to snap everyone out of their action as all eyes rested upon Weiss. Yang could just barely make her out from the rest of the white.

"All of you, put your weapons away!" Weiss made a show of authority by swinging her arm to the side. "These two are not the enemies!" Weiss made it clear who she was referring to when she pointed to them before motioning to the corpse in the room. "This man, however, was, and might have killed me had these two not arrived when they did." She stared down all the soldiers. "Which begs the question, why was their assistance even required? Why was Atlas' supposed best not able to stop such an attempt before it even approached the same floor as me?"

An Atlas soldier stepped forward. "As soon as the check in didn't report we-"

A stern gaze from Weiss had the soldier wilting.

"I do not care for your excuses." Weiss went on. "Not only did you all fail in your duties but you all seem incompetent to the point that you were about to assault my saviours." She gave a quick glance at Yang. "Now, remove that." She pointed to Mercury's body. "And leave us and this room. Now."

One soldier seemed brave enough to speak up. "But there could be others. We can't just leave-"

"Then some of you move to the other room and the rest of you remove this body." Weiss explained in a tone as if it was obvious. "But do so right now."

After a moment, the soldiers carried out their orders. Two soldiers moved Mercury's body out into the hall with a few more following them while the rest moved to the other room out of sight. The door to the room, while broken, was still shut closed so the halls were out of sight.

Weiss took a deep breath before slouching with a sigh. The whole scene seemed to have taken a lot out of her. Yang felt exhausted just watching it. Weiss' light blue eyes locked with Yang's lilac ones. That was all the two did as the room was now filled with silence. Stare.

Yang swallowed the lump in her throat but it came right back out. What did she say? What could she say? Yang might have saved Weiss' life in a manner of speaking but wouldn't she still be mad at her? Was the only reason she wasn't kicked out because she saved Weiss' life? Whatever she said, it had to be soon. The silence was killing her.

"Weiss-"

"Yang-"

Both girls immediately went silent at the other calling their name. The silence only went on and grew even more intense. Yang bit her bottom lip. She couldn't say anything. If they started talking, Weiss would… She took a step back.

Only for Yang to feel herself shoved forward, nearly tripping over on her legs. She glanced back to see Mauve motioning her forward.

"I'll be in the other room with those guys…" He pointed to said room before walking out and leaving the two girls to themselves.

They stared again at one another. Yang swallowed once more and took a deep breath, puffing her chest out. Whether it was the intoxication, near brush with death, or Mauve's push, she mustered all the courage before opening her mouth.

"I'm sorry." Yang lowered her head in shame. Already feeling her emotions steadily start to boil up.

" _You're_ sorry?" She couldn't see Weiss' face but she sounded a little surprised. Maybe because she never expected Yang to actually face her like this. It wasn't exactly how she had planned it but Yang was here and was going for it.

"Yes." She kept her gaze low. "For everything. I'm sorry I'm such a hot headed idiot. I'm sorry for everything I said back when Ruby was unconscious. I was out for who knows how long and you had been working around the clock helping Ruby and others. B-" She choked on the name. She couldn't say it. "Back then, you had every right to say everything you did. You handled it more then maturely and I just shouted out things like a child. I'm sorry for everything I said. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you. I'm sorry that I ruined our friendship-"

She felt a jolt through her brain. She rubbed her head at the sudden blow she felt. She looked up to see a teary eyes Weiss. She clenched her fist and raised her fist again. Yang shut her eyes but didn't try to avoid it. She deserved it. She-

Warm, gentle arms wrapped around Yang's body, a delicate chin resting between the crux of her neck. Weiss's embrace firm yet careful not to hurt. "You idiot." Yang could hear sobbing. "What do you mean, _you're_ sorry? Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who left without even saying a word."

An image flashed through Yang's mind, her hand tightening to a fist. No. It wasn't like that. Weiss had an excuse. She had made one for her. She didn't just up and leave like… like.

"But the things I said. I-"

Weiss' hold tightened slightly. "Stop it. Stop talking. I told you I was sorry. I told you that I would be back but I wasn't able to. _I'm_ the one that should be apologising. Not you."

Yang's arm slowly rose behind Weiss' back. She dared hope but her hand paused. "You… You're not… mad at me? You don't hate me?"

Weiss slowly parted before gripping Yang's shoulders and looking her right in the eyes. "Yang, listen to me carefully. You are not the reason I left Vale. My departure would have happened no matter what. It was because of my father. He forced me away. Do you understand? Him. Not you. You weren't even a factor in my departure."

She was pulled back into a hug. "I'm only mad at myself. I hate myself for having made you think that way about yourself. Yang, I am _so_ sorry. I wanted to stay so badly but my father. He wouldn't…"

Yang's arm slowly wrapped around Weiss' shoulders, returning the hug. Tears streamed down her face as all the motions she had been holding back came pouring out.

"I-I'm s-so...glad!" Yang sobbed and cried as the two held each other tighter and tighter. Weiss didn't hate her. Weiss was still her friend. Her teammate. The others outside in the hall or other room might have heard her but right now, Yang didn't care. All she wanted to do was hold Weiss and show just how relieved and happy she was. Weiss was… Weiss…

Yang's mind started to grow hazy. Her vision darkened as her sight went from Weiss' back to the ceiling before she fell back with a loud thud.

"Yang?" She heard Weiss call as the girl filled her vision. She looked worried. "Yang!"

* * *

Yang felt pain before anything else. As she regained consciousness, that pain intensified. Her eyes flickered open and the pain got even worse when light filled her vision. She shut her eyes tight, moving her arm to block the blinding light only to wince at the movement. Her body quickly fell back against the bed and her eyes remained shut.

What happened? What was happening? Where was she?

Taking a deep breath, Yang exhales and tried to recall the last thing before losing consciousness. There was the hotel where Weiss was and… WEISS!

"Easy." When Yang tried to sit back up, gentle hands eased her back down. It was Weiss. "You need to rest."

"Weiss?"

"I'm here to." Yang jumped at the third person in the room. It was… Yang gulped. It was Kitsune. Beacon Academy's nurse and the same one who had treated her during the fall. "You should listen to your friend." She stuck a thermometer in Yang's mouth before glancing at her watch. One of her brown faunus ears twitching once while her tail swayed gently from side to side.

"Wgh-"

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Kitsune informed.

Yang looked to Weiss who just shrugged. "It's best to do what she says."

"Very wise words, Miss Schnee." Kitsune jotted something down on her clipboard before pulling the thermometer out. Yang was pretty sure it was suppose to stay in her mouth longer then that to get a good reading.

"S-So…" she wiped the drool leaking down her chin. "What's happening?"

"A check up." Kitsune informed as she moved to the white desk beside her bed. "You've been out for over a day now."

"W-What?" Yang jolted up only to wince. Weiss eased her back into the bed. "Over a day? What happened?"

"Well…" Kitsune rolled back beside her bed as she looked at her clipboard. A pen twirling in her free hand. "From what I've gathered from my initial readings you were: sleep deprived, intoxicated, on several medications, still recovering from your lack of arm and from what I've looked up on your record from Patch, quite possibly emotionally and mentally unstable."

Yang felt herself shrink from the blunt diagnosis. Not to mention the glare she was getting from Weiss.

"You're an idiot." Weiss stated

"I know…"

Weiss glared at the shivering blonde for several more seconds before her shoulders laxed with a sigh. She turned to Kitsune. "Thank you doctor for your hard work. Could we have a few minutes alone?"

"Hm…" Kitsune stared at her clipboard for another moment. "I suppose. There are a few supplies I need to get for further treatment. Make sure she doesn't get out of that bed no matter what."

"I'll freeze her in place if I have to." Weiss assured. Yang had no doubt she would.

When Kitsune exited the room, it became quite. Just like the moments before she fainted. Yang rubbed her hands together before taking a deep breath.

"So… a little foggy on the last moments before I collapsed. Mind if I ask a few questions?" Weiss nodded. "Mercury, he dead?"

Weiss gave another nod. "Yes. Though I can hardly believe it."

"And Neo was the one who killed him, right?"

"It surprised me too." Weiss confirmed. "I thought she was working with Cinder and her minions."

Yea. The last person she expected to come to their rescue was Neo. She just suddenly leapt in and took Mercury out. Which also left a whole lot of additional unanswered questions. Just thinking about it made her head hurt so she put it in the back of her mind for the time.

"Also…" Yang gulped. "Did you say something about not hating my guts? Possibly involving us having a moment?"

Weiss' gentle smile, along with a firm yet reassuring grip, was all the answer Yang needed. Immediately she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Yang. You're still one of my best friends and my teammate. Nothing will ever change that." Her grip tightened for a moment. " _Nothing_."

Yang felt her lip start to quiver. Tears forming and starting to poll at the corner of her eyes. They threatened to fall but she held them back with a sniffle. Weiss enveloped her in a careful hug, arms wrapping around her to cradle her back and head.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Weiss assured her with a gentle hush. "Your reaction was understandable but I want you to understand that we are still friends. Okay?"

Yang tried to answer but knew it would come out horsed so she settled for nodding against the crux Weiss' neck. After about another minute in their current position, Yang started to pull back which signaled Weiss to do the same.

"Your friend explained to me the situation." Weiss started. "Fenrir I believe his name was."

"J-Just call him Mauve." Yang explained with a small smile. "And he's not exactly a friend. More of a traveling companion? Not even companion really. More of an acquaintance." She shook her head. "So you know the whole deal?" Call her crazy, but she didn't trust Mauve to explain everything exactly the way she saw it.

"He explained that you acted rather stupid at the beginning." Of course he did. "Determined to go out after Ruby right away after your snapped out of your slump. How the only reason you are alive is most likely because of him."

"Might have been exaggerating a bit there." Yang cut in glumly.

Weiss went on. "And how you are in no current condition to be traveling the way that you are." She let out a sigh. "Without it being said, I also understand there's no talking you out of this. Not with how far you've come."

Yang's body relaxed a little at that. She didn't even realize her body had grown so stiff. "I have to find Ruby…"

"I know." Her hand wrapped around Yang's again. It had been so long since she had physical contact that didn't involve getting punched or kicked. "I also know there's nothing I could say or do to stop you. If there is anything I can do to help…"

Despite the offer, Yang felt a pit start to open up in her stomach. "You… What do you mean? You're… coming with us, aren't you?"

Weiss' frown immediately had Yang's chest aching.

"Yang. It's not that simple. I… I was sent here for a reason. To be a diplomat and help heal the rift between Vale and Atlas. That's why I came here in the first place."

"So?" Yang asked with a little too much volume as she straightened her back. "Isn't this the perfect chance to escape that? A mission in mind and far away from your dad."

"Yang." Weiss laid a hand on the blonde's shoulder to get her to lay back. "While I don't like what my father did, he has put me in a position to do some good. To help heal some of the damage that has been done."

"But…" Yang looked to her hand for some answer. It sounded logical but so what if it was?

"Yang, listen to me." Weiss gripped her, causing Yang to raise her head. "What I'm doing here _is_ important. Maybe not quite world saving but it's still very important. Yang, Cinder's attack on Beacon left a rift between the kingdoms. Particularly Atlas and Vale. While some people try to defend that it wasn't Atlas officially who ordered the attack, seeing their own robots assault innocence from all kingdoms is difficult to ignore. The fact that I was allowed here is a HUGE step to mending ties and I believe I can further that healing process. Cinder. I think sowing descent was one of her goals. So, if I can fix that, if I can get the kingdoms to trust each other, then I'd be dealing a blow against Cinder. That's how I see it."

"Yang." Weiss grabbed her hand. "This isn't goodbye. We're going to see each other again. Sooner or later. Please." She held Yang's hand in both of hers. "Understand that."

Yang starred with watery eyes at Weiss and her stern but carrying gaze. After a few deep breaths, Yang calmed down. "Yea. Okay…"

"Okay?" Weiss repeated.

Yang nodded. "Yea. I… I get it. This is a good thing. Got to meet up with one another. You're doing some real good. I shouldn't be upset…"

Weiss gave out a larger than normal smile before embracing Yang in a hug. "That's right. Thank you for understanding Yang."

"Yea." She wrapped her arm around Weiss' shoulder. They stood like that for a long while. "So… Weiss Schnee the diplomat, huh?"

Weiss let out a giggle before pulling back. She wiped at the edge of her eye. "Yes. I wasn't exactly happy about being taken against my will. Though father had some small parties and such to plan for me to attend, it soon became obvious that the situation with Vale and Atlas would only get worse. Given my position as a… former Beacon student, he saw an opportunity to help. Help himself with profits of course. Peace between two nations was just a bonus."

Weiss' dad sounded less and less pleasant the more Yang heard about him. And she thought she had family problems.

"Peace maker huh…" Yang tapped her leg and thought that over. "If you were trying to make peace between Vale and Atlas, that would explain why Mercury was after you." After failing to find the whereabouts of Ruby, Mercury could have made a stop here in Vale to stop Weiss from derailing Cinder's planes. Whatever exactly that was.

Weiss nodded. "Yes, I've had time to think about it and came to the same conclusion."

Well, that answered a few questions. Kinda. It still left so many newly added questions unanswered.

"So you're awake." Yang saw Mauve at the door followed by a barking Zwei who jumped at the side of her bed with his tail happily wiggling back and forth.

"Hey there." She mostly directed her attention to Zwei by petting him profusely. After a few more seconds, she acknowledge Mauve. "Yea. Weiss was catching me up. You know, I wasn't over my-"

A sound of a metal tray hitting the ground echoed through the room. Yang felt startled at the loud noise and immediately turned her head to the source. Kitsune stood there over her tray, tail stiffly pointing up and one faunus ear twitching. She had been working in silence the entire time.

"S-Silly me." Kitsune quickly filled the plate back with its contents before picking the tray up. "O-oh dear. These are contaminated now. I'll have to go clean them." She looked to Weiss. "Could you look over things here while I'm gone?"

"Of course." Weiss quickly recovered from the sudden noise with a nod. "You've done more than enough. Please."

She motioned towards the door with which Kitsune quickly scurried to. She moved just as quickly around Mauve before exiting the room and down a hall.

"As for your _acquaintance_ here, he gave me no end of trouble while you were out cold." She gave a none too gentle glare at Mauve. Clearly a large amount of frustration had built up over a short amount of time. "It took me three hours just to get the basic rundown of what exactly you were doing here."

"I didn't know you that well." Mauve sounded.

"I was Yang's friend and Ruby's partner!" Weiss surprisingly snapped. She took a moment to compose herself. "You were already aware of this before we even met yet you insisted in making things difficult and make me fight tooth and nail for every scrap of information."

"She was very insistent." Mauve sounded to Yang, much to Weiss' frustration.

"How you and Ruby became friends is beyond me." Weiss commented. "You two are nothing alike yet somehow equally as aggravating."

Yang let out a small giggle at that. It was odd. How long had it been since she had a reason to laugh? It felt nice.

"And then he ordered everything from the room service menu!" Weiss sounded from some previous line of complaints Yang had zoned out from.

"They had a lot of sweets." Mauve stated.

"Well…" Yang held her hand out before Weiss got into another argument. "I'm grateful. For everything." She gave Weiss' shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Really Weiss…"

Her words seemed to silence Weiss as she looked away from Mauve with a grunt. "You can thank me by resting up. Even if it has been a day, you need more time to heal."

"Alright." Yang wasn't in a particular hurry to leave Weiss' side and it wasn't like they had anything better to- "The scroll!"

"Down!" Weiss pushed her back into the bed when it looked like she might jump out. "I will freeze you to the bed if I have to."

"S-Sorry. But the scroll! Mercury's scroll. We had it with us. We needed someone to hack into it in hopes of a lead to Cinder's plan."

"Nothing on it." Yang's stomach cringed at Mauve's words.

"What? What do you mean nothing's on it?"

"I mean nothing's on it." Mauve nudged his head toward Weiss. "At least, that's what she said."

"It is true." Weiss confirmed with a nod. "After finally getting the story out of Fenrir here, I had my people retrieve the scroll from the man know as Junior's bar and had the people under me crack it's security. The contents were… empty." She pulled out a scroll from her pocket before handing it over to Yang. "Look for yourself."

Yang took the scroll and flipped through all the pages on the screen. She then looked over it again and then again. Realizing she hadn't missed anything, Yang tossed the phone to the side, not caring where it landed.

"Great." Yang let out a frustrated sigh before taking a deep breath and counting to ten in her head. "Just great. All of that and nothing to show for it."

"You don't have anymore leads?" Weiss asked.

"None." She answered. "I mean, the scroll's useless and Mercury's dead. A bit bitter sweet since I didn't get to kick his ass more."

"Hm…" Weiss just hummed as she seemed to think on something. "So… what will you do now?"

"I…" Yang sighed. "I don't know. I hoped that Mercury's scroll would have something I could use against Cinder. Looks like that plans a bust. I know the _general_ location of where Ruby and the others are. So guess we'll try there. I wanna be with Ruby of course but I wish I could have gotten something to help out beforehand."

"It bothers you that much?" Weiss asked. "Even though you'll eventually find Ruby."

"I wanna make up for lost time." She explained. "I thought this might help Ruby out. Guess I thought wrong…" She looked over to Weiss, a small smile spread across her face. "Still, I found and helped you out, so that's like helping myself at least." She didn't regret the choice. Not with the closure she got out of it.

Weiss seemed to struggle with some inner argument for a moment before sighing. "I… might know of a way."

"A way?" Yang sat up at that. "A way to do what?"

"To… gain some information on Cinder's whereabouts."

"How?" Weiss tried to lay Yang back in the bed but she wasn't having it. "Weiss, what can we do? Tell me."

Weiss took a moment to answer. "If we can track the scroll's last call, it could lead us to where Cinder is or at least was. I don't know if that would be of much help but-"

"That would be great!" Yang clasped Weiss' hand in her own. "Thank you Weiss! You're a genius! How do we track the scroll? You got some advanced Atlas tech in your ship or room?"

"Not... exactly…" Weiss glanced toward the wall, seeming to search for the right words. "Only a CCT tower can make a connection over vast distances. With smaller stations helping connect signals that are further away from the towers."

"You...want us to go to Atlas and use the tower there?" Yang asked.

Weiss shook her head. "I couldn't take you back to Atlas right now even if I wanted to with my current mission. Nore do I know how my father will react to bringing you. Not to mention the difficulties in getting to the CCT there with security beefed up."

"Weiss, I'm not seeing how this helps us." Where was she going with this?

"The best chance for you to find a lead with Mercury's scroll _is_ to use a CCT tower. So that's just what you'll do. Since Atlas is unavailable and the other two towers even less so, we'll just use the one in Vale."

It took Yang a moment to realise what Weiss had just said. "Um, Weiss, I don't think that will be possible."

"Oh, but I think it will." Weiss assured.

"Just to be clear…" Mauve chimed in from the side. "We're talking about the large tower that's deep in what is now currently grimm territory, right?"

"For once, you're caught up to speed." Yang confirmed. "Weiss, the CCT tower in Vale is offline. It's been that way since the fall of Vale." It still felt uncomfortable to mention the event. "Has something happened while I was away? Is the tower… back online?"

Weiss shook her head. "Not exactly. While the tower and the rest of the lands around the school are still grimm infested, we are making strides to correct those mistakes. It's in part why I am here."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

Weiss took a moment to look between Yang and Mauve. She took a deep breath before responding.

"We're going to reclaim Beacon."

* * *

 **Yea, moving forward. Hara. Etc. Comment please.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Well, have been able to more or less keep my sort of schedule or every two months or so. Kinda… On with the story.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 13**

* * *

Yang walked beside Mauve and Weiss, with Kitsune at the very front of their group, taking the lead. It had been a few days since Mercury's attack and Yang had been bedridden the entire time. Only after a lot of rest and a bunch of medical tests, some of which she believed were just to make her suffer, was she cleared to go outside by Weiss. And the first day of her freedom she decided to visit the camp.

"This won't end well." It was the ever so cheerful Mauve who broke the relative silence with his bright and shining personality.

Weiss decided to speak up. "Excuse me, but I will have you know that this operation has had several weeks of careful planning. We do not expect it to be easy, but we will accomplish our goal."

"It'll be all the worse if it does mess up."

Weiss turned to Yang and gestured to Mauve. "How do you manage with him?"

Yang looked away, hiding her smirk at Weiss' annoyance. "I try not to encourage conversation." She never thought she'd miss Weiss' over exaggeration and dramatic hand gestures. It really made her appreciate what she had, even with all she lost before the fall of Beacon. She took a deep breath through her nose before exhaling. "So, what exactly is the point of all of this?"

"Reclamation." It was Kitsune who spoke up this time. She had been surprisingly quiet. She gave a quick glance over her shoulder. "Vale, along with Atlas forces, will be initiating a campaign to slowly but surely retake Beacon Academy and the surrounding areas."

"Sounds difficult." Yang said. "There's… that dragon Grimm, isn't it there? It's attracting more Grimm?"

Kitsune nodded without looking back. "That's true. This is why the first phase of the campaign will be to set up a base from within the territory and make a safe connection to the main camp. From there, the two combined forces will slowly but surely take back land. Cutting off points of entry for the Grimm till finally converging on the school where the dragon is located."

"We don't expect this to be done overnight." Weiss spoke up as she ordained a teaching position with her arms behind her back as she walked. "We're dead set on gaining a foothold. The process after that is estimated to take several weeks. In a perfect world, we'd have it taken back in a matter of days but with resources stretched thin…" She let her hand hang in the air. "Well… nothing about this situation is perfect."

No one said anything for a moment.

"And this… campaign is going to help us specifically?" Don't get Yang wrong, she was glad that the damage Cinder had caused was starting to patch up but she still wasn't sure how this would help them with Mercury scroll. Weiss had been reluctant to tell her the details of the plan while she was recovering.

Weiss nodded. "It's going to help you by causing a distraction. While Atlas and Vale forces, along with myself, take on the bulk of the Grimm, you two will sneak toward the CCT tower-"

"Use this portable battery." Kitsune lifted said object.

"And turn on the tower's main functions to properly trace the call back on that scroll you found. Possibly Emerald or maybe even Cinder." Weiss finished. "But this will only be even remotely possible if it's in sync with the assault. This will help us too, as once the CCT has been reclaimed, we will need to activate it ourselves anyway. Two birds with one stone."

"Hence our trip to the camp." Kitsune said. "Once we integrate you into the mission, you'll be able to sneak to the CCT and out before the Grimm overwhelm you. Don't expect much help besides that though. I myself will be unable to accompany you as I must be with the commander during the entire mission, fighting by her side. It will all be recorded for good publicity. Atlas and Vale, fighting side by side."

Yang nodded. She wouldn't ask that of them, not when they had an important mission like retaking Beacon. She and Mauve would make do by themselves. "So, who's in command? She a hard ass?" Would it be difficult to get on the mission, even with Weiss vouching for them?

Weiss smirked at that. "Well…"

* * *

Several large crates floated into the air before they were neatly stacked onto a supply truck. Several Atlas and Vale soldiers secured them with wires before it drove off toward another part of the camp.

Part of Yang shouldn't have been surprised that she of all people was in command. Yang couldn't help but smirk.

"Miss Glynda Goodwitch." Weiss greeted as they made their way toward the woman.

"Weiss." Glynda pushed her glasses up before giving a nod. "It is good to-" Her eyes darted toward the side. "Yang?" Her eyes and brows widened slightly. "You are one of the last people I expected to see here." Her eye darted toward her missing arm. "Are you well?"

"Yea." Yang tried to ignore it. "I'm fine. Good enough to fight."

Glynda's brow stayed raised as she glanced to Weiss. She didn't know that Yang wanted to be part of this mission but she was slowly piecing it together. "Perhaps we should talk inside." She motioned to one of the large tents before giving some orders to a soldier.

The inside of the camp had a large table in the middle of the room along with a map of Beacon and several markings. Plans of attack most likely.

Glynda turned to face the others while standing in front of the table. "Though I feel I already know the answer, what brings _all_ of you here?"

"Good to see you too, Glynda!" Kitsune made her way to the huntresses side, a wide smile on her face as she suddenly looked a lot more full of energy.

"And you, Kitsune. You have become a bit scarce of late. I was worried you would not be ready for the mission." Her eyes moved to Weiss. "And you as well, Miss Schnee."

"We were preoccupied, but it's fine now and we are more than ready for the mission." Weiss explained.

"That's good to hear." Glynda's eyes wandered to Yang. "And might I ask why Miss Xiao Long is here?"

Yang stepped forward. "Miss Goodwitch, I wanted to talk to you about being apart of your mission. In a sense."

Glynda sighed. It looked like preparing for this mission had taken a lot out of her. "I am sorry Miss Xiao Long but I can not allow that in your current state."

"I'm not asking to be on the front lines!" Yang quickly composed herself and took a deep breath. "Please, let us at least explain."

Glynda was silent for a moment, her eyes going between Yang, Weiss, and then Kitsune who gave a toothy grin. Eventually, she relented and agreed to hear them out. The explanation seemed to have varying effects on Glynda. When the explanation was finished, she looked toward Weiss.

"Why did you wait until now to tell me all of this if Miss Xiao Long has been here for days?"

Weiss straightened herself out. "I believed this would give the largest impact, which I believe it has."

Glynda let out another sigh. "Sneaking into the CCT tower just to track a scroll? Even with a portable battery to temporarily power systems, it might be more problematic than that. You might not be able to do anything."

"I have to at least try!" Yang took a step forward, doing her best to control her voice. "Maybe it won't accomplish anything but I have to try. Ruby needs me and I can't just sit by and do nothing. If this works, this could help a lot more people then just me. At the very least we'll be able to let you know the condition of the tower. Either way, something is gained and there is little to lose."

"Save for your life." Glynda pointed out. "Even if you are able to properly move and even with aura, your fighting capabilities are severely limited. Miss Schnee won't be able to personally assist you and I can't afford to lend you any troops or-"

"I won't be alone!" Yang shouted, then paused before glancing back to Mauve, who nodded. "I'll have backup. He's strong enough to take on the Grimm till the mission is complete."

"Two lives at risk then." Yang gritted her teeth buy Glynda remained silent for a moment as she made her way toward the end up the table opposite of everyone else. She laid her arms across the table and leaned against it for support. "Ozpin is dead. Qrow is missing and the only message he sent me was a vague text that he was `handling things`. What that means I have no idea. This mission is imperative and _must_ succeed." She stared directly at Yang, a few strands of Glynda's hair in the vision. "If things go badly for you, I cannot help. The mission comes first."

"I told you, we-"

"So." Glynda interrupted. " If things do go badly for you at the tower, you're on your own."

It took Yang a moment to understand what Glynda was saying. Her head raised and she almost dared to smile. "So, does that mean…?"

"You may conduct your mission." Glynda assured. "Something tells me you'd attempt it with or without our assistance. I'd rather you not do this at all, but if you're going to anyway, it might as well be with us all cooperating."

Yang nodded. "Thank you."

"I'm sure Miss Schnee can provide you with what you may need for the mission at hand. I suggest you pack light."

"Thank you Miss Goodwitch." Weiss gave a curt nod. "Coming Kitsune?"

"Ah, I'm actually going to stay with Glynda for a while." Kitsune said. "Catch up a bit and get updated."

Weiss nodded. "I understand." She lead Yang and Mauve out of the tent. "That… went well. All things considered."

"Yea." Yang agreed. "It did." They had done it. Now that they were apart of the mission, they could learn when to move toward the tower. Hopefully, there would be enough of an opening. If not, they'd have to make one themselves.

* * *

"That went well."

It was hard to tell if Mauve was being sarcastic or not but Weiss decided to take his words at face value.

"I believe it did. Considering the scope and importance of this operation, we should count ourselves fortunate. If it were not Glynda, I doubt it would have gone the same way."

"Hm…" Yang knew that but all she could think about was the tower. She had sounded so sure of herself to Glynda but if she was being honest, she didn't know if they could pull it off. Yang knew a decent enough amount about computers but attempting to repair damage to a tower she didn't even know the state of? Even Ruby would have doubts about this plan. In terms of technology, Mauve was useless since the guy didn't even have a scroll. Still, he'd be able to hold off the Grimm. So that really did leave fixing the CCT tower to her.

"Since we are here." She heard Weiss' voice over her thoughts. "I thought now would be a good a time as any."

"Good time for what?" Yang asked.

Weiss smiled as she motioned toward two servants. One a man and the other a woman. Both held in their hands a silver box with the Schnee emblem on them. The first box opened, revealing a set of scrolls. They looked new and pristine and had the Atlas Silver color scheme to it with the Schnee company symbol on the back.

"These are the latest scrolls in Atlas. I thought you could use them on your journey." Weiss explained. "It seemed pointless to wait until after the mission and this way, you can communicate with you...acquaintance."

Mauve raised a brow, figuring that she was talking about him. "For me?" He hesitated but Weiss nodded and he took the scroll, looking it over as if he had indeed never held one before. "It smells…"

"All new scrolls smell." Weiss said crossly.

Yang took the other one and smiled at the gift. "Thanks Weiss. This is really nice of you."

"Yes, well, I had the time while you were resting to do many things. Speaking of which." Weiss motioned to the second box which the servant opened. It revealed a pair of yellow…

"Anklets?" And not the kind for decoration. They looked mechanical and their color pattern closely resembled Ember Celica. If she didn't know any better, they looked like…

"Weapons." Weiss explained. "They go around your ankles and conform around them and to the souls of your feet. With these, you'll be able to fire off shots with your legs. Similar to your own weapons. They have also been made durable so they can take damage. The one designated for your right is optimal for close range attacks, giving more damage. The left, while not quite as powerful, is best suited for long-range strikes."

"Weiss, this is…" Yang had her mouth agape as she just stared at the pair. These were weapons she could use. Really use. Maybe even be as good as she use to be with enough training. If not better. "I don't know what to say."

"A simple thank you and acknowledgment of my brilliance and ingenuity will suffice."

Yang smiled. "Thank you."

Weiss returned the gesture before the two pulled in for a quick hug.

"So… can I try them on?" Yang could feel the smile cracking her face.

"I would hope so. Let me show you how they work." Weiss guided her to the side, allowing Yang to take a seat before Weiss put one brace and then the other, making sure Yang saw how they attached before they clicked shut. They made a noise and shifted down her ankle and over her heels and the soles of her boots before another noise indicated they were done. She hopped onto her feet and walked around in place. She could hardly feel the difference in weight and it didn't affect her walking. They were perfect.

"You said they launched stuff. I wanna try them out."

"There is a training station nearby." Weiss guided her toward the area. There was a target dummy several yards away with no one else around.

Yang sank into a position and recalled what Weiss said. Left for long range. She sank back into her right foot and shot out with her left. A bright glow of red and yellow similar to Ember Celica shot out and missed the target. She grimaced. The impact seemed pretty good but she wasn't use to aiming with her feet.

"Try getting closer and use the short range." Weiss encouraged.

She nodded and took several steps forward till she was about three yards away. She did a motion with her foot to see how she would need to stretch out to hit before pulling back and doing it all at once. The target his and exploded into several pieces. She jumped into the air and cheers with her arm in the air. Yes! She did it!

Weiss applauded from behind.

Alright. This was good. She was dangerous now. No. More dangerous. She could work with this. She looked over toward Weiss. "I'd like to do some more practice."

"Go ahead." Weiss raised her voice so she could hear. "The campaign to take back Beacon doesn't start until tomorrow."

Yang nodded before moving toward another target. She stepped back about another yard before striking with her right foot again. It hit but she felt it wiggling a bit near the end. Probably meant she shouldn't use her right for anything more than four or so yards. Now she just had to practice with the left.

* * *

Turns out, she sucked at long range. At least when it came to her feet. It would take more practice but the potential was definitely there. Her potential. She smiled to herself as she faced off against Mauve. Practice made perfect.

"So, you're a kickboxer now?" Mauve asked.

"Trying to be." She sent several shots out with her left leg. Mauve dodged them all as he slowly closed the gap between them. "But it's going to take time."

"Funny. I said the same thing when you needed to rest. Then you ran away from home."

Yang frowned as he bobbed and weaved around her strikes appropriately. When he neared, she switched to her right leg, firing off the more powerful strikes. He had to zig-zag this time, the distance between them too short and the explosions too large. He ended up taking one blow straight on before he got within striking distance.

She gave up on projectiles and focused on simple kicks. Mainly using her right leg with the occasional left jab. He blocked them all of course. She had never used her legs all that much and now focusing on just her legs was tough. Mauve had been her equal before she went to Beacon and had probably done his own version of training. It reminded her that she was still weak but she was also getting better.

She leapt back, letting her catch her breath as the two squared off at one another. This was just supposed to be sparring and Mauve seemed to remember that seeing as how she wasn't eating dirt right now. She gave another nod before they resumed.

"It's different, you know. I couldn't wait around while Ruby is out there risking her life."

Mauve just hummed as he let out a combo of punches and kicks. She blocked with a combo of hands and feet. It was sloppy.

"With these, I can train a bit every day. Become better. Stronger. Maybe even back up to before…" She paused. "Before Beacon."

Mauve hummed again as he continued his attacks with increased tempo. "She seems helpful. Resourceful if she was able to make those weapons in only a few days."

"Well, she _is_ a Schnee."

"That's her last name." Mauve said. "What's your point?"

Yang took a step back and held her hand out, indicating she wanted a break. She raised her brow, unsure if he was being sarcastic or not. It was hard to tell when he mostly spoke in monotone. "You're kidding, right? Shouldn't you of all people know about the Schnee family?"

"Of all people?" he repeated. "Why me? Is she important?"

Yang paused, still uncertain if he was being serious. After a few seconds of staring, she decided that he wasn't. "Well…" She rubbed the back of her neck. "Her family doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to the faunus. Bad working conditions and bad pay. At least, that's how Weiss and…" She swallowed. "How Weiss explained it to me."

"I see." Mauve said. "And Weiss is different."

"She is." Yang was quick to say. "She's a lot better than her father." She hadn't personally met the guy but given the fact that he took Weiss against her will and all the other stuff with the faunus, she doubted it was a stretch. "She'll make her father's company into a better place."

"Hm…" Mauve hummed. "Did she get along with the others of your team?"

"Not at first." It wasn't wrong to say that Weiss could barely tolerate her new teammates. Especially Ruby. "She hated us. Ruby in particular. She was jealous of her for being the team leader but in the end, she came around."

"To all of you?" Mauve asked as he sat on the dirt. She followed suit.

"Well, yea. I didn't really have a problem with her. She got along with Ruby so she got along with me."

"And Blake?"

Yang's hand tightened into a fist. "With everyone…"

Silence filled the gap save for the noise at camp.

"Will you be able to open the doors?" Mauve asked. "Assuming they aren't already open."

"I got a general run down from Weiss." Yang explained. "The doors are made of tough stuff along with the rest of the tower and without any humans to bait them, the tower should remain relatively intact and Grimm free. Don't worry. We got this."

"So you keep saying."

Yang studied Mauve for a moment. "If you wanna sit this one out-"

"You'd all but certainly die." he finished. "So don't go asking stupid things like that right before a mission. It's not caring or thoughtful. It's suicidal. I made a promise to keep you safe."

He wasn't wrong. In her current condition, if Mauve wasn't there...

"We should turn in." he sounded, standing up. "The attack starts tomorrow in the morning and you'll need your rest."

"We'll need our rest." He extended a hand to help her up. She took it.

"Yea." She'd need her rest for what was to come and it would be getting dark soon. She promised she would rest up in the hospital and the time from there to hear would take a while so she needed to get up early.

* * *

Weiss' personal shuttle allowed them to get from Beacon to the camp quickly. Yang was jogging in place as they walked toward the camp in order to wake her body. The battle was to start early in the morning so the mission could go for as long as night. Grimm could typically see in the dark and while there were probably a few faunus among the forces, they weren't going to fight with that disadvantage. So they had until dusk to take form a camp in the Grimm infested lands of Beacon. Well, the Atlas Vale forces did. She and Mauve would be sneaking around to the CCT tower.

"When the siege begins, I suggest waiting an hour or so to allow enough of the Grimm to come to us and away from the tower." Weiss explained.

"We… could help with the fight." Yang suggested.

Weiss shook her head. "You two should conserve your energy. You'll need it. Besides, this mission has been carefully planned out. Your presence could end up doing more harm than good."

Yang nodded. That made sense. Yang didn't know all that much about planning a siege but she'd follow Weiss' lead on this one. She always did want to be a leader. Looks like she was doing pretty well in that department.

"I'll be sure to go over the directions on the best path to the CCT." Weiss went on. "You may need to avoid Grimm and redirect yourself for terrain so i'll be sure to plan several routes."

"Weiss," Yang stopped walking. "Relax. I appreciate everything you're doing but you gotta focus on your own priorities."

Weiss took in a deep breath. "I know. That's why I'm doing this. You are a priority."

Yang felt bit of water forming in the corner of her eyes. She had forgotten what it was like. To be with her friends. She couldn't help but smile. "Thank you." She took her hand and gave a firm squeeze. "You already gave be these sweet gauntlets. That's more than enough. Besides, Zwei will be there for me!"

Said Zwei barked. He could more then take a few Grimm on.

Weiss' lips curled into a small smirk. She chuckled. "Right, well, there you have it. I have nothing to worry about." She knelt down to the corgi and patted his head. "Take good care of her okay?"

Zwei barked in response. Weiss always seemed to feel better around Zwei. Her overenthusiasm about the dog was obvious the moment he arrived. Yang never thought she would see that look again.

"Glynda and I will be making a speech to the forces." Weiss took a deep breath before rising to her feet. "Motivation and stuff for the cameras. After that, we'll be moving out." She looked directly at Yang. "I'll have someone inform you when it's fine to move out."

"Sure you're not gonna end up sending a squad with us too?" Weiss was practically making sure everything was done for them up until they reached the tower.

Weiss took a deep breath. "Sorry. I know you understand. Just wanted to help however I can."

"And you have." Yang reminded. "Thank you, Weiss. Really." It was not too long ago Yang was the one worrying over Weiss. Wondering if she would forgive her or even talk to her. Now, Weiss was doing everything in her power to help Yang.

"I have to meet up with Glynda." She informed. "Pre fight talks. I probably won't see you til after…"

Till after she rode into battle against a horde of Grimm. Yang pulled Weiss into a hug. She would see Weiss after this was all over but she hugged her like they never would.

"Girls hug a lot…" Mauve stated.

"Shut up."

Exactly an hour into the invasion, the Atlas soldier had come up to them to say that it was time.

Yang rubbed the side of her leg as she glanced in the general direction of where the battle was taking place. It didn't feel right. Knowing Weiss was fighting for her life while she just snuck around.

"Yang." Mauve called.

She took a deep breath before nodding. "I'm ready."

* * *

"It's awful."

Yang could only see ruin throughout the city. Buildings were crumbled and the very dirt had large chunks of it missing all over the place. She wasn't sure how to feel about the lack of bodies.

It would have been dead silent if not for the distant sounds of battle.

"Looks like it's working." The Grimm were being drawn to the Atlas Vale forces leaving them to do their work. It was creepy really. Being in Beacon after so long. At least, it felt like a long time. They had started the operation in the morning yet Beacon seemed to have some naturally dark presence because The whole place was still fairly dark.

"We should keep moving." Mauve suggested.

"Right." They didn't bother to go in open land unless they absolutely had to. Weiss really had made proper routes to the CCT because whatever obstacles barred their way, they were able to find an alternate route the next minute. It was when they started nearing the tower that there were Grimm. She supposed it was too much to ask that all the Grimm were distracted. They still did their best to avoid conflict, sticking to the edges till finally, the tower was within view.

"There it is." she whispered. It was still a good hundred plus feet away from where they were. The Grimm, however, were unmistakable. "I spot at least two dozen scattered around the tower. Mostly Beowolves. Probably more around the building." She was surprised and relieved that the tower was indeed intact. At least, it looked intact. As intact as an abandoned building in an abandoned town could be.

"Do we wait for them to leave?" Mauve asked.

Yang stared at the scene. Most of the other Grimm had directed themselves toward the fighting but these were still around. One of them was even clawing uselessly at the door. The tower really did have strong doors. Made sense, since it was the CCT. The world relied on it. But why were the Grimm not leaving?

"I don't think it'll matter." she finally said. "For whatever reason, the Grimm are staying. We should act now before anymore show up." She looked to Mauve. "First take down the ones around the tower. Then I'll work on getting the doors open. You cover me."

Mauve nodded. They stared at the tower for a few more seconds. She couldn't help but feel her throat start to dry up. They had one chance at this. If they messed this up…

She took a deep breath, calming her nerves before exhaling. "Let's go."

They ran toward the tower. About a quarter of the way there, the Grimm noticed them. It took them a moment to realise it was indeed people that were moving towards them before they snarled and charged to meet them head on. Yang struck the first Beowolf in the jaw, sending it to the side before jumping back from a swipe and kicking the Grimm in the head several times. It flew away.

Mauve rushed past her, leapt over one Beowolf and kicked the next mid jump. He grabbed the one behind him and sent it flying towards a group of others before charging at the rest.

Yang felt a bit envious. She hadn't been able to move like that in months and seeing Mauve move so freely. Well, it didn't matter. She had to stay on task. Running towards the door, she struck down the Grimm that got in her way, getting some help from Zwei on one occasion.

Once at the door, she gave it a quick once over. "The battery!" Mauve kicked another Grimm away before opening his bag and pulling out the portable battery. Seeing as there was no rubble in the way, he slid it against the floor towards her.

She pulled open the panel and tried to recall what Kitsune had taught her about overwriting the panel doors. She was no expert in these things but had forced herself to memorise as much as she could. After a moment of thinking, she grabbed the wires attached to the side of the battery before placing them in the specified places. Once sure she had properly done so, she focused on the dozen smaller wires in the panel.

She heard a snarl from behind her. Her head snapped behind. An Alpha Beowolf snarled as it lunged at her. Her body jerked to defend herself-

A kick from Mauve sent the Grimm staggering to the side several feet. "Focus on the panel." He raised his arms before moving to intercept the Grimm. Zwei barked after him.

She took a moment to collect herself before focusing on the task at hand. Mauve was here. He could take care of things 'til she was done.

Seconds turned to minutes which felt like hours as she rubbed a bead of sweat running down her forehead. The door wasn't opening. Why wasn't it opening? She had followed Kitsune's instructions to the letter. At least, she thought she had. Had she made a mistake? Done something or failed to do something?

"Yang." She glanced back to see Mauve punching a Grimm to the floor. What started off as a scattered bunch was now turning into a steadily growing mob. More and more Grimm were being attracted which meant that they were running out of time. "Anytime now." Mauve's tone was even as ever, but he was starting to worry. She certainly was.

"J-Just another minute." Though she'd be glad if that was all it took, she doubted they even had that long. She took a moment to look over her work at a fair pace. Wires set and crossed. Power hotwired. Everything seemed alright. So why wasn't it working? It should be working!

A thud from beside her made her jump. Zwei had been sent flying to the consul beside the door. He let out a small whimper as he tried to snap out of his daze. "Zwei..." She reached out to the dog but he just marched back into the fray. "Damn it!" She hit the panel, unafraid of what damage she might do. The damn thing wasn't opening anyway. She glanced to the oncoming horde. Zwei having to rely more on Mauve then go out of his own way. They were holding, but for how long?

"Ruby…" she muttered to herself. She really was an idiot. What was she thinking? Leaving home without any warning? Going off to places unknown on a simple hunch? She was… she was… She sighed. Yang was such an idiot. Her head pressed against the door as the growling increased. She should never have-

She yelped when her body lurched forward, a barely audible hiss of doors opening as her face met cool marble floor. She blinked, taken back by the action before she rose from her fallen position. The doors were open. Had she…? No. That didn't matter. "IT'S OPEN!"

Muave's head snapped towards her before running past the doors with Zwei in tow. "Close the doors."

Yang rushed to the panel beside the door and clicked a button. It didn't close. She repeatedly pushed the button again and again to no avail. The growls were getting louder and Mauve was preparing for a fight. Come on! Close! Close!

Just as the beowolves lunged into the room, the doors closed with a loud thud from the Grimm. Yang felt herself panting. Even though she hadn't done much fighting, she felt exhausted. She couldn't help but sit on the ground, taking deep breaths before sighing in relief. They had done it. They had safely entered the tower. There was still the question of how they'd safely get out, but that was a problem for later.

"Where's the battery?"

Yang cursed at Mauve's question. "On the other side of the door. Probably in pieces."

"Looks like we won't need it."

Yang raised her head. "What do you mean?"

"Look." He motioned to the room around them.

She took a moment to take in their surroundings. There was some rubble around the place from the walls and ceiling but it was all open space. "What am I look at?"

"The lights." He motioned above his head to said lights.

"So?"

"They're on."

It took Yang a moment to understand what Mauve was trying to say. She inwardly kicked herself for not noticing it sooner while Mauve, someone who had never used a scroll, did.

"There's power." She stated.

"I thought this place was supposed to be out of power."

"It is."

* * *

 **Could be wishful thinking, but I think this story will get a little more popular come next chapter. Here's hoping. And please comment as always… or start.**


	14. Chapter 14

**The moment of truth. Well, one truth. This chapter got done a bit (lot) sooner than normal. Though it is shorter than most of the chapters. Hopefully I can post at least one chapter a month with a little more than this from now on. Who knows. Motivate me by leaving a comment. On with the chapter.**

* * *

 **Beta:** _Coeur Al'Aran_

 **Chapter 13**

* * *

Yang was immediately on her feet with her arm raised. Her eyes scanned the room for any intruders. The more she thought on the situation, the less she liked it. Why were there no Grimm in the tower? The inside of the place had obviously been damaged yet no Grimm were in sight. Had the doors really been enough to keep the inside intact? The windows where glass normally would have been were replaced by steel. Security measure, no doubt. Even if that was the case, why were the lights still on? Some backup energy? Lasting this long?

She didn't buy it.

No matter how she looked at it, things just weren't adding up.

"There's no one here." Mauve assured as he gave his own once-over of the place before sniffing the air. "No scents either."

"Might not be able to smell them over all the Grimm." Yang pointed out.

"Unlikely."

Mauve seemed certain of his skills but Yang still kept her guard up. She jumped at a noise and faced the source. She was breathing heavy when she noticed one of the two elevator doors open. The second one being out of order. The elevator had dinged when the doors opened, hence the cause of the sudden sound.

"If there _is_ someone, looks like they're inviting us up."

Yang scoffed. "Or they just want to trap us in an elevator and drop us." If they could take control of the CCT tower, who knows what else they could do. She imagined it wouldn't be too difficult to get an elevator to disconnect and drop them to their doom. The only question was, who were they?

As Yang understood it, Cinder had deactivated the CCT tower in order to sow chaos. To what ultimate end, she didn't know. But if Cinder could launch an attack at Beacon, she could have people sneak into the tower and secure it from the Grimm. Her hand tightened. If that was true...

"Well, I don't see any stairs, do you?" Mauve started to make his way over.

"What are you doing?!" Yang reached out as Mauve was just outside the elevator with a hand to his hip.

"We need to get to the top, right?" he asked. "Well, unless the plan has changed…"

Yang bit her lip and weighed her options. Zwei looked to her for instructions. They needed to go up at least one level, possibly to the very top but dare she risk it? Could they afford not to? After all the trouble they had gone through? Even if they knew someone dangerous was waiting for them upstairs?

She jumped when the lights went out, leaving only the elevator lights on. There should still be light outside, but all the entrances sealed by the metal doors made that fact null in void as it was now a lot darker. Sensing no other option, and definitely not because she was spooked, she made her way towards the elevator. Zwei followed behind her. She entered right after Mauve and the doors closed without them even pressing a button.

"I don't like this." she said. The elevator was already moving.

"We don't have much of a choice." Mauve reminded. "Feels weird."

"What does?" Because there was a lot to choose from.

"Elevators." He lazily raised a hand. "They feel weird."

"Have… you never been in an elevator before?" Yang was starting to realize just how tech-deprived Mauve was.

"Years ago." he replied. "Still feels weird. Like the ground is hollow."

"Well, don't lose your focus. Whoever's here could be trouble."

"If someone is here, I don't see them being defenseless."

He had a point. The CCT tower surrounded by Grimm wasn't a place you just wandered into. They had to be armed one way or another. She doubted people who worked for Cinder were weak. The door dinged to the very top of the tower. Both of them crouched, ready for whatever was behind the door. When it finally slid open, they moved in.

Yang's eyes glanced left and right, arm up and ready to strike. It soon became obvious there was no one in sight but they didn't let their guards down. There were still computer terminals they could be hiding behind. She inched toward the front lone console, where the holographic AI would normally appear, and found no one hiding behind it.

The room was dimly lit by emergency lights embedded into the walls, with the windows shut off by metal screens.

Mauve and Zwei moved on ahead, checking the rows of computer terminals for anyone hiding. Mauve shook his head after making their round.

Yang dared to relax. Something moved to her left. She jumped in the direction followed by Zwei barking. It was one of the computer consoles against the wall. The screen was flickering on and off, struggling to turn on. She felt herself staring at the screen. There was nothing else to keep her focus on.

It kept flickering in place until the screen beside it started to do the same. Then the screen next to it and the screen next to that, and so on until she was forced to shield her eyes from so many blinking lights. The blue glare from all the screens in the room continued for half a minute before turning green. The flickering suddenly stopped before a single image remained on the screen.

Finally able to see properly.

Yang blinked several times, wrist rubbing into her eyes as she tried to not have a seizure from all those fast moving lights. When her vision started to come back, she took a closer look at the image. Her eyes squinted as her vision returned. It looked to be a blade of some sort placed on an angle. The symbol looked familiar but she couldn't quite place her-

" _SALUTATIONS!"_

If her dad could have seen her, he would be so disappointed. The sudden appearance of someone behind the main desk had her jumping back and falling on her ass.

"Yang." She heard Mauve call her name, followed by some footsteps. He stood beside her in a stance with Zwei in front. Both stared at the holo-projection where the AI assistant would normally be. He followed his gaze and found out her previous jump scare had been what she thought it to be. Even as she stared right at it, she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Penny?"

" _Salutations, friend Yang!"_ A green see-through holo-projection of Penny Polendina waved at them with a wide smile. " _I was so surprised to find you here! You know there are Grimm outside."_

She couldn't bother to close her mouth. She was speechless. Word's just wouldn't come out.

"Yang." Her head snapped toward Mauve. "You know this...girl?"

Yang looked back to Penny. She heard Mauve but couldn't respond.

" _Yang and I are friends."_ Penny exclaimed with a nod. " _Just like Ruby!"_

"You know Ruby?"

Yang pointed to Penny. "You...You died."

" _In a sense."_ Penny confirmed.

"In a sense?" Mauve repeated. He obviously didn't know what to make of the situation.

"C-Cut to pieces." Yang stammered.

"Yang."

"Broadcast live…"

"YANG!"

Yang's body jerked up at the jerk to her arm. She snapped her gaze from Penny and looked to Mauve.

"Is she a threat?" His body was tense, no doubt ready to strike at the virtual person. He didn't know who or what she was and only had Yang's reaction for a guide. Seeing her shocked and potentially afraid, he must have thought Penny an enemy.

"N-No. She… She's a friend." Her gaze slowly went back to the smiling projection. "A friend who should be dead."

" _I am very fortunate not to be."_ the holo Penny exclaimed. " _It is so good to see you, Yang. Did I already say that?"_

"Stop." Yang held her hand out. "Just… just stop a sec." She… she needed a moment. A minute to gather her thoughts. To think. "Why… Why are you here?"

" _I have been tidying up the tower for the most part."_ The way she said it made it sound so casual. She clasped her virtual hands. " _Is Ruby with you? I didn't see her downstairs."_

"I...no. She's not with me. Penny, I don't think you understand my question. I meant, what are you doing here? In the CCT tower?" Penny looked at her without a care in the world. "DEAD!"

" _Oooooooh!"_ Penny nodded, finally understanding. Her look turned a sower one. " _Well...this was not how I had planned my stay in Beacon."_ Her holographic fingers poked together in a way that imitated Ruby's awkward shyness. " _Where to explain?"_

"The beginning will do."

Penny took on a thoughtful pose before nodding. " _Well, I had expressed to Ruby once during the tournament that I wanted to stay at Beacon. Prior to that, I had enacted a series of events that would allow me to stay at Beacon… buuuut that didn't go according to plan on the account of me dying so my plan was altered, causing me to download into the Cross Continental Transmit System."_

Yang blinked. "I still don't understand."

" _You see, just prior to my death, I had made it possible to download myself into the Cross Continental Transmit System. I had planned to use this in order to be with everyone in Beacon."_

"By downloading yourself?" Yang asked.

" _Yes."_ Penny said as if it were no problem.

"That's possible?"

" _Yes."_

"..." She stared at Penny, still trying to wrap her mind around what was going on before turning to Mauve. "You see her too, right? You hear this?"

"I see her." Mauve confirmed. "Though I don't understand quite what she is saying, I do hear it."

Yea, that's what Yang thought. She looked back to Penny who was smiling at her with a wave like nothing was wrong. "So, from what you're saying… you wanted to stay in Beacon. So to do that, you planned to download yourself here. Which you didn't get to do because of… the tournament. So you downloaded yourself into the tower?"

Penny nodded. " _Correct."_

"So, why are you still here?" she asked. This place was a dump and if she could see Ruby and the others, why not do so?"

" _I am unable to leave this platform."_ Penny said.

"Platform? The CCT? You mean, you're stuck here?" Penny nodded. "Why?"

" _A virus seems to have tampered with the Cross Continental-"_

"Just say tower."

" _The tower…"_ Penny corrected. " _A virus has tampered with the tower, causing all outgoing and ingoing signals to be obsolete. Even if this tower was at full operation, which I have done my best to accomplish given my limited resources mind you, it would still not be functional. The lack of signal, along with the virus, restricts me to the tower's platform."_

"That…" Yang paused. She was here for all those weeks and months. "I'm sorry."

" _Not to worry, friend Yang. With you and your friend here, I can get out!"_

"What? How?"

Penny grinned with clasped hands. " _If you have one in your possession, I can download into your scroll and evacuate this place."_

"Really? That…" Wait… "Did you say calls can't go in or out?"

" _Correct."_

"That means…"

"The scroll is useless." Mauve finished.

Yang slumped. Great. All of that, for nothing. Why didn't she stop Neo from killing Mercury? She knew she needed a lead and she just let one lead to a dead end. Literally. "Damn it... " she muttered. "DAMN IT!"

" _Friend Yang?"_ Penny sounded worriedly.

"All this trouble and not one step closer!" Yang waved her arm around, walking back and forth in place. She knew it was a long shot to begin with. She knew that just getting inside was an uncertainty but she did so anyway. And now, after everything, they had nothing to show for it. She had failed. She had failed Ruby!

" _Friend Yang?"_ Penny repeated. " _I do not understand. What is wrong?"_

Mauve decided to answer for her. "We have this scroll. We wanted to track it to other people and had hoped to use this tower to do so."

" _Oh."_ Penny blinked. " _Ohhh. I believe I understand. My news is what has caused this feeling."_

Mauve nodded.

Yang groaned.

" _I believe I can help."_

"How?" To Yang's surprise, Mauve beat her to the question.

" _The virus does not permit the incoming or outgoing of messages on a large scale. This includes smaller ones as well. However, I have been in contact with the virus for months now. And while it has proven surprisingly, quite surprisingly might I empathise, difficult to deal with, I believe it is possible to allow for a signal to be sent through with my supervision."_

Yang was finding her mouth hanging open a lot today. "Penny… I could kiss you!"

" _That might prove difficult in my current situation."_

Yang laughed. "Rain check, then. So you can really do it? You can use Mercury's scroll and make a call back to trace the signal?"

" _I believe I can. However, I require access to the scroll."_

"It's right here." She held it out. "Tell me what to do."

" _Please connect the scroll into the panel here."_ Penny motioned to the interface behind the desk she was being projected from. Yang did as instructed. Penny looked distant for a moment, likely analyzing the scroll before nodding. " _I have an Emerald Sustrai on the list I can contact."_

"That's perfect." Emerald was one of the people who was with Cinder during the fall. If anyone knew where she was, it was Emerald.

" _It will take time to pinpoint the exact location."_ Penny explained. " _During that time, you must keep the caller on the other end occupied. I can only do so if the scroll remains on at both sides."_

Yang took in every word from Penny. "You know, that might be hard when she hears someone other than Mercury's voice coming from his scroll."

Penny clasped her virtual hands. " _Leave that to me, friend Yang! Simply talk into the scroll and I can modulate your voice through your scroll based on limited records of his voice stored within. To the recipient, you'll sound like Mercury Black."_

"That's... convenient."

" _However."_ Penny leaned forward. " _I can only change your voice. You will have to speak with his mannerisms. Speak like he would or this Emerald may realise something is wrong."_

Talk like Mercury Black? She didn't have a lot of conversations with the guy but she should be able to manage long enough. She nodded. "Got it."

" _Wonderful! Are you ready?"_

"Hold it." Mauve cut in. "What am I supposed to do?"

Yang shrugged. "Not much you can do."

" _The computer terminals still have games in which to play."_ Penny said, without an ounce of sarcasm.

Mauve sighed and shook his head. "Is it possible to see how the battle is going against the Grimm?"

" _Oh, you mean that large force comprised of Atlas and Vales forces?"_ A screen lit up to the side. " _I had wondered what that was about. There are a few cameras that work that might be able to give you a limited view of the battle."_

Mauve waved at the two before walking toward the screen. "I'll do that then."

"Help him out." Yang whispered. "He doesn't get tech. Eh, assuming that doesn't slow you down."

Penny gave a salute. " _Not to worry, friend Yang. My hardware might be limited, but I am still fully operational. We can begin when you are ready."_

* * *

There was always fighting.

It was something Fenrir had noticed ever since he could remember. He had been trained to be a fighter and so it had always been apart of him. The last few years of his life had been relatively… peaceful but as he rested his head against an arm and watched with dispassionate interest, he was reminded of the violence. The bloodshed and gore.

He didn't mind it. Truth be told, it was something that felt odd if he didn't immerse himself in at least some form of combat or other since it had been so closely intertwined with his life. Ruby and some others had helped with that. It was more the things that led up to the fighting that were annoying. There were often excuses and reasons to get into conflict. He didn't always understand them, but there was always a reason. There had to be a rationalization in one form or the other before there was fighting.

His perspective had… changed some time ago. Fighting was different when he was younger. It was simpler. He liked simple.

And he had been more immersed the last few weeks in conflict then he had in years since… well, it had been a while. Only fighting had now become more about tactics then actual physical combat. If that made sense. He still wasn't sure it did. Yang wanted to be with Ruby but she also didn't want to go to her without some information. She wanted to give her sister something. Something to help in her fight against Cinder. Though she hadn't said it, Fenrir believed it was a way for Yang to apologise to Ruby. Since she felt that there were a lot of things she was to blame for.

He thought she was just making things more complicated than they needed to be, but previous 'talks' had proven it was useless to argue. So he kept quiet. A lot of things he said seemed to bug her. He figured it was the stress she was under. Though she had been less aggressive since she met her friend Weiss.

He glanced over to said girl who was talking to someone named Emerald before looking toward the girl next to her. He still didn't understand what was the deal with her but the Penny girl was apparently a friend.

He let out a tired sigh before looking back to the screen. Things felt complicated. He prefered simple. At least fighting was the same.

There was always fighting.

* * *

She nodded before taking a deep breath. Breath in through the nose, out through the mouth. Relax. "Alright. How do we do this?"

" _I will contact the number now. Remember to keep Emerald talking."_

She nodded. Mercury's scroll that was connected started to dial before, followed by the humming.

There was a click. " _Mercury?"_ It was Emerald's voice. " _That you?"_

Yang looked to Penny who nodded. She thought back to her few meetings with Mercury during Beacon and the unpleasant ones after. He was always confident. Liked to egg people on. She didn't think much of it at Beacon. He almost reminded her of her. Her hand tightened at the thought. But now she understood how horrible a guy he really was. She took a moment to get into character before exhaling and putting on a smile. "Give any other guys your number? Should I be worried?"

There was a scoff over the line, though it seemed to lack a certain energy. Then again, she didn't know Emerald that well. " _Stop screwing around. Was your mission a success?"_

"Nope." Yang said casually. "I called just to hear the sound of your loving voice. And to grace your ears with mine, of course."

Another noise of irritation and growing frustration _. "This is serious. Normally I'd assume your laid back attitude was confirmation you succeeded but cut it. Did you complete the mission?"_

Emerald was either talking about capturing Ruby from his 'visit' to her house, or the attack on Weiss to foil the Atlas Vale team up. She glanced to Penny who motioned for her to continue. It was best to keep the answer vague.

"Yep." She did her best to sound confident and nonchalant. "Mission accomplished. As usual. What about you? Boss give you anything useful to do?"

" _Cut the crap. You're calling so you must be nearby. Where are you?"_

She hesitated. Had to keep it vague. "Oh, close enough." She paused, daring to ask. "Same place as before?"

There was silence over the line. For a moment, Yang thought she might have screwed up. " _Yea."_ She inwardly sighed in relief. " _But not for long. So hurry up."_

"Sure sure." Yang kept in character. They were leaving? That wasn't good. Even if Penny did trace the signal, by the time they got there, the trail could go cold. It was a risk but she pressed on. "Where we headed?"

A short pause but noticeable. " _You already know. Remember? We talked it over with Cinder."_

Yang inwardly cursed. Her heart sank. Shit. Okay. Keep calm. Her hand covered her mouth to stop any wheezing. She took a moment and took a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. "Well, must not have been paying attention. I tend to tune things out with you. Except for when you're hitting on me."

A short pause, an almost suspicious pause. Emerald's silence was telling. She'd noticed something wrong, either in Yang's tone or in the way she spoke. The lack of knowledge maybe.

"Em?" Yang asked in Mercury's voice, just to get the other person talking.

More silence. Shit.

" _Mercury,_ " Emerald said slowly, testing, " _You do know where-"_

"Send me a selfie?" Yang suddenly asked, desperate.

" _What?"_ That caught Emerald off guard.

"Going through the woods gets kinda lonely. No company." What the hell was she saying? She sounded stupid but it was keeping Emerald on the line. Not being able to think of anything else, Yang pushed on. "Preferably nudes."

There was a moment of complete silence. Yang could hear the distant noise of whatever Mauve was watching. She started to worry Emerald could hear too. Her eyes met Penny who gave a not so comforting smile. Why did she always smile so much?

"So…" She decided to break the silence. "Dem nudes?"

" _You're a pig."_ Emerald finally responded. Yang held back a sigh. " _The day I send you nudes is they Hell freezes over."_

Yang glanced back to Penny who motioned for her to keep talking.

"Playing hard to get or shy?" Yang cringed as she said it, but if Emerald was arguing, she wasn't getting suspicious or hanging up. She just had to keep her on the line. "I'll send you mine first if that'll make you feel better."

" _Quit. It."_ The anger made Yang believe Emerald truly believed it was Mercury. " _Just get over here. We're on a job here for Cinder and her friend and I don't like being here alone with her. So get your piece of junk legs moving and get over here."_

Yang was on a roll and she was going to press on. "Is that you're way of saying you feel more comfortable with me? That I'm your knight in shining armor?"

" _Being part machine does not make you a knight."_ Emerald quipped back. Good. She was talking.

"But you do enjoy my company."

" _MERCURY!"_ She sounded like she'd hang up any second. Yang looked to Penny who held her index finger and thumb together, indicating she was almost there.

Still…? Emerald sounded furious, enough so to hang up at any moment. Yang wracked her mind for some way to keep her on, some distraction.

" _Just get here, Merc. I'll talk to you later."_

Yang could imagine Emerald reaching for the button to end the call. Desperate, she blurted out the first thing to come to mind.

"I love you."

Stunned silence.

" _W-What?"_ Emerald choked.

Seemed like Mercury never teased her quite that much.

"So…" She pressed. "About them nudes."

Emerald let out a long, defeated sigh. " _Goodbye, Mercury."_ Before Yang could stop her, the scroll went dead.

At the exact same time, Penny looked up and nodded.

" _Mission accomplished."_

"You got it?" Yang sounded desperate.

Penny nodded. " _Just at the last moment. That was quick thinking, Yang. I would never have thought of such words."_

"Yea. Well, don't tell anyone, ok?"

" _My lips are sealed!"_

"So where is she?"

" _A settlement called Yew in Mistral"_

"Then that's where we're going."

* * *

 **PENNY! Yep. She is not dead. Or was she ever really alive? Of course she was. How dare you even suggest otherwise. Let me know what you think of her return. This arc, technically second, i think, is coming to a close. From Patch, to Beacon. So we move onto the third. What's the third you say? Well...wait.**


End file.
